More Than Just Me
by LunaOdin1234
Summary: The spotlight was mine. The crowd was thundering. This was it. Feeling like my heart was about to burst from my chest, I leapt forward, ready to see the proud faces of my family and friends...and it was all a dream. My family knows nothing of my secret life. But who said I couldn't do more than just science? Be more than just smart? Be…myself?
1. The Spotlight Came Calling

**A/N  
Hi everyone!**

 **Before anything else… I honestly just want to say that even** _ **I**_ **don't know what to make of this story. I hope you like it! Please enjoy 'More Than Just Me', and after you're done, leave a positive review, favorite, follow, and as always…**

 **Enjoy!**

 **Chapter One: The Spotlight Came Calling  
** _(Donnie's POV, Flashback/Dream).  
_ I have the lair to myself.

Mikey, Raph, and Leo are all very sick with the flu. Daddy brought them into his room last night so that I won't catch the flu, too. Daddy has also been spending a lot of time taking care of them, so I've been on my own for a while. A few times, Daddy's come out into the living room to make something for me to eat, or make sure I wasn't lonely, but for the most part, I've been by myself. I'm only five years old, but Daddy can trust me on my own. He says that I am very responsible, and that he can trust me. I'm okay with that. I'm okay with being alone too. It gives me more time to do whatever I want.

Right now, my brothers and Daddy are all sleeping in Daddy's room. But I can take care of myself. So, I decided to watch a movie. I dug out a box of movies that we had. But for some reason, none of them really stood out as something that I wanted to watch at that moment. Then, something at the bottom of the pile caught my eye. I carefully lifted it up to see. It was a VHS tape that I had never seen before, and taped to the top of it, was a note. It was written in Japanese, but I was able to understand it.

' _To my love, Tang Shen,'_ it said, ' _I hope you enjoy your birthday present. I know this is something you've wanted to see for a long time. -Yoshi._

Careful not to tear the note away, I lifted the paper to take a look at the title. The picture was definitely strange. The actors were human, but they were dressed as cats! The title above them, was obviously, CATS. Now curious, I gently slid out the tape, put in the TV, then pressed play.

Immediately, I was drawn to the screen. Never had I seen anything like this! It was amazing! And quite easy to understand, if you looked at it the right way. Basically, it was about a tribe of cats called Jellicles, who all gathered on one night of the year to sing and dance, and celebrate the Jellicles. Then, at the end of the night, one Jellicle is selected to go someplace called the Heaviside Layer and be reborn into a new Jellicle. The entire time until the end of the film, I was very still. I barely even dared to breath, fearing I'd miss something. But above all, there was one thing that had me enraptured.

It was the dancing. The way the actors and actresses flew and glided, leapt and soared, twirled and swayed across the stage, was magical. It was incredible to think that a living being could be capable of something so unbelievably wondrous. It must have taken years for them to learn how to do that! Five, ten, maybe fifteen!

Then, an unexplainable thought crossed my mind. Something that was about to change everything for me, forever.

' _What if_ _ **I**_ _...could do that?'_

Just then, I heard my family start to wake up. I quickly ejected the tape and carried it to my room. Once there, I began to think of the wild possibility. On the back of the movie box, it said that CATS the Musical had played on Broadway for almost eighteen years! But then two years ago, it closed. Everybody was very surprised. But it still closed. Now, everyone's hoping that it will have a revival, which means that it will come back to Broadway, and then everyone will be happy again that it's back!

I couldn't help but imagine myself doing that. The spotlight was mine. The crowd was thundering. Feeling as if my heart was about to burst out of my chest, I leapt forwards, ready to see the proud faces of my family and friends…

 _(Flashback/Dream ends).  
_ "Come on, Brainiac! I guess you don't want to turn twenty!"

I blinked, rubbing the sleep from my eyes. What did Raph say? Then, I looked at the calendar on the wall. Holy Chalupa! It was September 29th! That meant that I was twenty years old, today!

I sat up in bed. "Happy Mutation Day, Raph." I said. My older brother Raph smirked. "I'm not gonna even think about getting all nice, because I'm way too cool for that, but thanks. And to you too." I rolled my eyes. Typical Raph. Always thinking he's better than everybody. Anyways, I hopped out of bed and rushed into the living room. Leo and Mikey (my two other brothers) were sitting on the couch with our brother-in-law, Casey Jones, who was twenty-two. Raph was in the corner with our twenty-one year old sister, Miwa (we had since stopped calling her Karai), and it seems that the two of them had teamed up to pummel the punching bag that we always kept, and where Raph spends most of his time. And coming out of the Dojo with my father, was the one person I had been waiting to see-

"April!" I called out to my girlfriend. Her face lit up when she saw me. "Donnie!" she cried, rushing forwards. We embraced in a tight hug, and finished with a kiss. My siblings and Casey looked disgusted at the display, but we didn't care. "Happy Mutation Day." April whispered into my ear.

"Thanks, love." I whispered back into hers. Oh, April. The one true love of my life. I could hardly even believe that today marked the fifth year since I met her! When she first met me that cool, September night, I could tell that she was a little wary and nervous. But by the end of June, I could tell that we had started to fall in love with each other. Just before I was about to turn sixteen, I asked her to be my girlfriend, and she excitedly agreed. I only wish her father would be more impressed by me. I've gotten him into trouble plenty of times in the past (one of which we all agreed to never speak of again), but that was all behind us now. Still, he had looked a little frustrated and mad when April had told him _exactly_ who her new boyfriend was, despite sounding happy for his daughter. Luckily, April hadn't noticed a thing and ended up not getting upset about anything. On the other hand, I felt kind of hurt. Even after all of these years I still think he's not my biggest fan.

Anyways, after a while, it was starting to get pretty late in the afternoon. I glanced up at the clock, then told everyone that I was going out to spend some time rummaging through the small junkyard not far from here. I did this often, so it was normal for me to say this. "That's fine, Donnie. Just be home before all the pizza disappears down Mikey's throat." said Leo. "Hey!" yelled Mikey. "I can't help it! Pizza needs to be worshiped!" I rolled my maroon-colored eyes as my little brother's antics as I sprinted off down the tunnel. At least it'll distract everyone, so that no one could follow me to where I was **really** going.

I only had to travel for around fifteen minutes before reaching my destination. It was where we had fought Rahzar and Fishface (both long gone and in prison by now) for the first time. Even before that, I had used this place for a long time. I just never told my brothers. And this was the reason why.

Very slowly, I slipped the earbuds into my ears (which must have looked pretty strange, considering the fact that turtle ears can't be seen). I clicked 'Play', and began. It started with a few delicate movements, maybe some gentle spins and turns, before really getting going. Breaking into a run, I did a flying leap, landing perfectly on one foot. I twisted around and broke into a series of spins, before jumping into the air and doing a split before coming back down again. I ran forwards again, and then bounced off of the ground once more and spun around in mid-air. I landed soundlessly, balancing myself just right.

Yes, you heard every bit of that right.

I was dancing.

And not just the normal type. I meant the complex, Broadway-worthy, contemporary type of dancing.

I've been training myself for fifteen years now, ever since I was five and saw the CATS tape. I remember how hard I trained, how many times I willed myself to try my hardest, even though I wobbled while balancing on one foot, or if I fell while attempting a leap. I remember how many times a day I would rewatch the tape, just so I could get the moves right. I remember how I thought of it every waking moment of my childhood days. But most importantly, I remember the one wish I had.

I wanted to be on Broadway. And not just Broadway. CATS the musical on Broadway. It sounds utterly ridiculous, but it was true. I wanted to be just like everybody on the film. They inspired me, big time. But, unfortunately, that was around the time that Sensei began to teach us about just how different we were from the world above. I understood the situation, but was heartbroken about the fact that my goal had been crushed into bits.

However, that didn't pull me down. If anything, it made me stronger and more determined than ever. I trained every day. In my room, in the dojo when Sensei wasn't there, everywhere that was completely unoccupied. The reason behind that was because I dreaded the thought of my brothers finding out that I could dance. If they ever discovered my secret, they'd make fun of me to the ends of the earth. They'd laugh and call me all sorts of things that I didn't want to be called. Lame, weird, crazy. I shudder just to think about it. Which is probably why I get strange glances when I just shudder at random.

Very quickly, I realized that the one way to keep the possibility of my brothers finding out my secret at bay, was to do something else in my spare time (the time I spent at the lair). So when I wasn't dancing, I was trying to get smarter. And to my surprise, I became very smart, at a fast rate too. Within a few years, my family labeled me the genius of the lair. I was okay with it, to some extent, because it covered up my dancing tracks. But it made me a little sad at the same time. I was too frightened to share with my family what I had really been doing all these years. And since it had been fifteen years, they still don't know to this day.

Suddenly, a yelp and a splash made me fall over. I quickly sat up again and looked over to the tunnel entrance. To my horror, I saw April attempting to get up! I jumped up and ran over to help, but the look in her eyes told me that my worst fears had been confirmed.

Just how much, had my girlfriend seen me dance?

 **A/N.  
Well, here goes nothing. I hope you liked this. Also, another thing about this fanfiction is that it takes place five years after the show. It's an alternate timeline, so Master Splinter is still alive. And, Miwa (they don't call her Karai anymore, as mentioned above) and Casey are married.**

 **That's just about it for this time. Leave a review, favorite, follow, and as always…**

 **Stay Tuned! ;)**


	2. With A Bit Of Luck

**A/N.**

 **OMG...to everyone who saw this, thank you so much! Moltenstorm, thank you for your kind review! There is definitely more coming your way. And to DreamTechStar, thank you for being this story's first follower! And to everyone else who saw this story and took the time to read, thank you all as well! Now, I hope everyone enjoys this chapter of More Than Just Me. Things begin to get real tonight. Once you're done, leave a review, favorite, follow, and as always…**

 **Enjoy!**

 **Chapter Two: With A Bit Of Luck  
** _(April's POV)  
_ The burning red of embarrassment still hasn't left Donnie's cheeks.

It's been exactly ten minutes since I had accidentally slipped in a puddle and given myself away. I had just been leaning in to get a closer look, and hadn't noticed it. Needless to say, I had been distracted. Oh my goodness. The way my boyfriend had danced...it left me breathless. It was graceful and delicate, but strong and determined at the same time. He was amazing. It was like watching an angel, innocent and free spirited. Throughout the dancing, the smile never left his face. He looked utterly happy. But now, the smile was gone, replaced with an ashamed expression, with a fiery blush to go along with it.

Finally, he lifted his head until his gaze just barely meet my eyes. "Aren't you going to, I don't know, laugh?" he asked. I did a double take. How could I possible laugh? "Donnie...that was beautiful!" I said. His head snapped up. The shame was replaced with shock. "You're serious?" he asked. I nodded. "It was incredible! That's so cool that you can do that!"

For a few seconds, he couldn't even comprehend what I had said. Then, the disbelief seemed to melt away from his face and instead was filled relief and joy. "April...thank you!" he said, throwing himself into my arms. "I was so scared that you would think it was stupid and weird!" he said. "Well, it's exactly the opposite. I enjoyed every bit!" I told him. Then, another thought crossed my mind. I pulled away from my boyfriend slightly. He looked up, but figured out right away what I wanted to ask.

"No. You're the first person to know about this." he said, motioning that we should sit down. "Okay, I'll tell you the story." he said. "I've been training myself how to dance ever since I was five years old. It began when my brothers had all come down with the flu. Sensei kinda kept me quarantined, so that I couldn't catch it too. He kept them in his room with him, but trusted me to be on my own. So, I was alone, with the entire lair all to myself. Since I had nothing to do, I began to look for something to watch. And then I found something at the bottom of the small stack of movies we had." he paused, then blushed again. "Okay, do you promise that you won't laugh at this either?" he asked.

I nodded. "I would never laugh." he grinned. "Have you ever heard of CATS?" My jaw dropped. "You mean the Broadway musical?" I asked. "Yes! I remember seeing it when I was really little, on video of course, not live." His smile seemed to only grow. "Yep, that's what I found. Apparently, it was supposed to be a gift for Tang Shen (her birthday was only a few months after the fire. Splinter still celebrates it every January), but she never got it. When I first saw it...my entire world changed. It was unbelievably awesome. I was just, in awe the entire time. Then, after it was over, it hit me. _I wanted to be just like them_. So I began to teach myself how to do what they did. And that's what I've been doing for fifteen years now."

I was stunned. "That's amazing!" I said. Then I corrected my sentence. "Scratch that, **you're** amazing!" He blushed again, harder than ever. "Thank you." he said. "I've just wanted to be in CATS for so long now. Thank goodness someone is supporting me."

Suddenly, a memory flashed before my eyes, which bugged out in shock at what had just hit me. I slightly rocked backwards, not able to process what I had just remembered. Donnie gasped and helped steady me. "Are you okay, Sweetie?" he asked. For a second, I didn't answer. Then, I looked right into his eyes.

"Could I use your T-phone for a second?" I asked. He nodded, then gave it to me. I opened the internet, then typed in what I wanted to look up. Then, after a few seconds of waiting, the results came up. The exact same results I had been right about.

"Donnie...CATS is coming back to Broadway in January!" I said to him. Silence at first, but then his face broke out into enormous amounts of excitement. He began jumping up and down and shrieking with joy. I did too. I couldn't help it.

"And they haven't cast anyone yet?" he asked. I shook my head. "The auditions are going on right now, and they haven't released who got in yet." I said. "Donnie, do you realize what this means?"

The unmistakably wide beaming smile was my answer, telling me that he knew exactly what I meant.

 _(A little over one week later...)  
_ It's been a whole week since Donnie first auditioned for CATS.

He had gotten two callbacks, the two days directly after the audition. He hadn't heard from them since, but we were anxious. Right now, Donnie and I were sitting in his room, hanging out and just holding onto each other. These were the moments of life that I loved best. When I could just spend every waking moment of the day in the presence of the love of my life. Just drinking in the peace and quiet, which we could barely get in our normal lives.

I then got an idea. I looked up at Donnie, and asked the question. "Can you dance for me?"

Donnie blinked in surprise. Then he smiled, silently kissed my forehead, slid off the bed, and began to dance. Gentle twirls, dainty twists, feather-like leaps. The way he moved, was unlike anything I had ever seen. The rate he could go from doing a series of soundless jumps and mute turns, to standing stock still, with his leg bent high enough to the point where it was clear over his head, was astounding. But my favorite part, was how when he danced, his eyes danced around with him. The focused, but care-free and spirited expression was the most gorgeous thing I've ever seen. I could watch him for hours and hours on end, and never get tired.

Just then, Donnie's T-phone rang and scared the living daylights out of us. Donnie started to tip over, but I leapt up and caught him before he could hurt himself again. He giggled. "Thanks, love." he said. Then he went over to his desk on the other side of the room, pressed a button on his T-phone, and held it up to his ear.

"Hello?" he asked. A second passed. "Yes, this is Donatello. What do you need?" A few more seconds. His eyes narrowed, then went extremely wide. His breath caught in his throat, and his hand slowly came up to his mouth. All of the color had drained from his face, making the olive green look a very interesting shade of yellow. He looked as if he were about to faint any second. "Okay. Thank you so much." he finally said. He hung up, then placed the phone back down on his desk. Then, the unthinkable happened.

He started to cry. I saw the tears before he brought his other hand up to his mouth. They trickled down his face for a split second, then he seemed to collapse altogether, thick tears pouring from his crimson colored eyes and muffled sobs breaking free of his vocal cords. I immediately knelt down to calm him down, fearing that something was wrong. But when I looked into his eyes, he looked overjoyed. "Donnie, what is it?" I asked. He lifted his head to meet my gaze, and I swear, he had never, ever, looked more happy in his entire life. He then uttered three words that I would never forget.

"I got in." he said, barely above a whisper.

I felt my heart stop. Then, after replaying the words in my head a few more times, I asked, "What?" "I GOT IN!" he yelled, throwing his arms around me into a massive hug. "Thank you, April!" he sobbed happily. "I got the part as Mistoffelees thanks to you!"

I screeched with excitement, then also began to cry with happiness. I couldn't help it. I was so excited for my boyfriend. We heard a knock on the door. "What's going on in there?" It was Leo. "Nothing!" I called back. We waited until his footsteps went away, then continued our sob fest.

I had once heard a quote from a review on CATS, that said, " _They shot for the moon, and got it."_ And with a bit of luck, Donnie and I shot for the moon, and what do you know...we got it.

 **A/N.  
WHOOHOO! Donnie got the part as Misto! Who is his character really? Well, you'll have to stick around and find out. Also, I just saw how short this chapter is, so sorry that it's a bit short. The next chapter will be longer, I promise.**

 **This chapter is deticated to Ricky Ubeda, who is actually performing his final performance as Mistoffelees (the character that Donnie got) in CATS on Broadway tonight, July 16th, as I speak. I saw him twice and he was phenomenal! I'm so sad that he's leaving! Ricky, you're amazing!**

 **Now, once you're done, leave a review, favorite, follow, and as always…**

 **Stay tuned! ;)**


	3. Call Me Mistoffelees

**A/N.  
Hello everybody! Welcome back!**

 **Today, Donnie meets the rest of his co-stars who will be acting right along side him in CATS, and we find out more about his character, and how he managed to get into the audition. Now, once you're done reading, leave a review, favorite, follow, and as always…**

 **Enjoy!**

 **Chapter Three: Call Me Mistoffelees  
** _(Donnie's POV)  
_ Well, after a short wait (but it seemed to take forever to me), it was time for the first rehearsal.

After April and I had found out that I had gotten the part, we had immediately flown into action. Unfortunately, this meant giving away my secret just a tiny bit more. We had contacted Dr. Rockwell at the Mutanimal's lair to tell him what our plan was. To my surprise, he said he would just roll with it, and was pretty proud of me. The reason we had contacted him was so that he could keep the rest of our friends and family at bay, and if one of them got suspicious, he would make sure no one figured out my secret.

I was pretty nervous about the first day. Dr. Rockwell had contacted me and said that he had told Leo that he wanted me at the Mutanimal's lair to work on a 'project', and that I would be going to their lair most days over the next few months (stopping at the end of January, aka, opening night, which by that time, my family will have to find out). Cautiously, I stepped out of my lab and said, "I'm going out." Leo didn't even look up at me as he headed for the dojo. "Okay. Just be sure to wear the watch."

Oh, right! The watch! Another thing that I had prepared in advance for the audition. I had made a watch that would reflect any type of light, which would then bounce back into someone's eyes and play tricks on them. So when I put on the watch and turned it on, to everyone else, I was human. This was how I managed to audition in the first place.

After I had left the lair, April was waiting for me in the Party Wagon. We then drove to the rehearsal studio. April was concentrating on the road, while I busied myself with another task that I had been nervous about since I learned that I got in. I looked up a cast list of the actors and actresses that I would be working with and get to know over the next few months.

 **Hercules Acerman** _as Skimbleshanks._ **  
Lacey Armoniea** _as Swing.  
_ **Anita Basilmore** _as Victoria.  
_ **Drake Bennett** _as Swing.  
_ **Jared Cavven** _as Rum Tum Tugger.  
_ **Carter Cloris** _as Mungojerrie.  
_ **Pam Dayva** _as Tantomile.  
_ **Charity Diesel** _as Bombalurina.  
_ **Max Fairling** _as Tumblebrutus.  
_ **Julian Faith** _as Swing.  
_ **Zinnia Gordon** _as Jennyanydots.  
_ **Adrian Gunterson** _as Plato/Macavity.  
_ **Donatello Hamato** _as Mistoffelees.  
_ **Taylor Herring** _as Sillabub.  
_ **Jocelyn Jarrs** _as Cassandra.  
_ **Ethel Jenkins** _as Jemima.  
_ **Woodrow Kilamond** _as Coricopat.  
_ **Freddie Kramer** _as Carbucketty.  
_ **Carly London** _as Swing.  
_ **Ben Maisley** _as Munkustrap.  
_ **Fern Renee Meklin** _as Electra.  
_ **Jeffrey Morgans** _as Swing.  
_ **Kevin Nicloe** _as Bustopher Jones/Gus the Theater Cat/Growltiger.  
_ **Ian Ningles** _as Swing.  
_ **Opal Peterson** _as Exotica.  
_ **Sean Pholand** _as Alonzo.  
_ **Sandra Jane Prathers** _as Jellylorum/Griddlebone.  
_ **Ruth Qwaver** _as Swing.  
_ **Judy Roger** _as Demeter.  
_ **Elliott Sketch** _as Asparagus.  
_ **Lydia Stacey** _as Grizabella.  
_ **Noelle Sun** _as Swing.  
_ **Raymond Terrace** _as Pouncival._ **  
Mark Urlund** _as Admetus/Rumpus Cat.  
_ **Daniel Vine** _as Old Deuteronomy.  
_ **Betty Weathers** _as Etcetera.  
_ **Isabella York** _as Rumpleteazer._

I smiled when I saw my name on the list. This was just...unbelievable. I was going to be on Broadway for crying out loud. But there was gonna be a lot of hard work leading up to the show, for all of us. This was going to be a little bit tough on my first day, because I know absolutely _no one_ , but I was determined to change that. This was going to be awesome!...

...Then the nervousness came washing over me again once we got to the rehearsal studio. "April, I'm nervous." I said to her once we got out of the Party Wagon. She smiled, and then hugged me. "I get it. It's your first day, you don't know anyone, but your gonna do great. I'm positive." she said, then she kissed me on the cheek. "Thanks love." I said to her. The beam on her face was unmistakable. "See you in five hours." she said, then she got back into the Party Wagon and drove off. We waved to each other as she disappeared.

Five hours. That won't take so long, right?

When I walked in, most of the cast was already there. I felt as if I was frozen in the doorway. Most of them looked much more experienced than I was! But then I remembered what April said. I may not know anyone, and my nervousness might have been so bad that I was literally shaking, but I was going to do great. Confidence restored, I walked into the room.

Some of the people in there turned to face me. I smiled, silently waved, then put my stuff down in the corner and looked around. Some of the cast were talking to one another in small groups, while others were doing a few flips or practicing their dancing. I decided to just sit and think.

I thought more about my character. Mistoffelees. Mistoffelees is one of the youngest male cats in the musical. Probably still a teenager. He's also a magician. Meaning he can do magic. Real magic. But he doesn't really know how to use his powers, and he's getting help from the other cats in the tribe. Mistoffelees was supposed to be flamboyant and innocent. I guess I would have to be flamboyant and innocent for the show, too.

Suddenly, a voice broke through my thoughts, making me jump. "Hi." the voice said. I turned around to find a teenaged girl with long orange hair and green eyes looking back at me. What really surprised me was that she couldn't have been more that fifteen. "Is anyone sitting here?" she asked. I shook my head. "No."

"Okay." she said, then sat down next to me. "Sorry, I'm a little nervous. I've never even met anyone in here. It's my Broadway debut." I explained. Her eyes widened. "Me too! I got the part as Jemima!" Now it was my turn for my eyes to widen. She saw this and smiled. "I'm the youngest person to ever be in a really big production of CATS. I'm fourteen."

I remembered back from the list. "You're Ethel, right? Ethel Jenkins?" I asked. She nodded. "That's me. I was actually named after another theater. The Ethel Barrymore theater. My dad and grandpa both work there, and it's like a second home to them. My dad also met my mom there. So when I was born, my parents agreed on Ethel." She then looked at me. "What's your name?"

"Donatello. But you can call me Donnie" I answered. "You got the part as Misto, right?" she asked. I nodded. "That's awesome!" she said. "Misto's such a cool character! And from what I've seen on the fandom, one of the most popular. I mean, he-"

Well, that's all she managed to get out before a woman came into the room. My jaw dropped. I knew her face anywhere! It was Gillian Lynne, who did the original CATS choreography, back in 1981!

Well, next thing we knew, everyone was on their hands and knees, crawling around the room. Maybe five hours would be a long time after all.

Ethel came up next to me. "Well...that was a bit of a surprise." she said awkwardly. I nodded. "I definitely didn't see this coming." I said. "No one did," I heard a voice say behind me. A man with black hair and blue eyes, who seemed only a few years older than me, came up next to me. "But, this is Broadway, so you've gotta roll with the unexpected." he told me and Ethel. Ethel nodded. "Have you been on Broadway before?" she asked.

"Yes." he said as the three of us began to crawl around the room in a lap, then another lap, then another. We were the only ones circling the room, while everyone else was crawling around in the center. They didn't pay attention to us, so we just kept talking. "I was Ed in The Lion King." he said. "That was my Broadway debut. This is my second show. What about you two?" I smiled. "This is my debut." I said. Ethel also smiled. "Me too." The man smiled at us. "Congratulations." he said. The he held out his hand. "I'm Jared. Jared Cavven. I'm going to be playing Tugger."

Ethel reached out and shook his hand. "Ethel Jenkins. I play Jemima." she said. I followed her example. "Donatello Hamato." I said. "But, you can call me Donnie. Saying Donatello all day would be too hard." Jared nodded. "You two are Jemima and Misto?" he asked. "Yes." we said at the same time.

"Nice." we heard another voice behind us. A woman with light brown hair and gray eyes came up next to us on Ethel's other side. She looked about my age. "You two have very important roles." she said. "Oh, hi Anita!" said Jared. "I didn't see you in here!" Anita grinned at him. "I arrived about a minute ago."

"Donnie, Ethel, this is Anita. She's a friend of mine. We worked together in The Lion King. She was in the ensemble, and understudied Shenzi." Jared said. "I was also in the ensemble of Aladdin, that was my debut." said Anita. "I'm a bit of a Disney fanatic, but I decided to branch out. So I saw the auditions for CATS, went in, and boom! I ended up as Victoria!"

"Oh, Victoria is awesome! She's one of the best dancers!" I said. Indeed, Victoria was really cool. "Congratulations on the part." Anita smiled. "Thank you. This is gonna be so much fun." she said.

Just then, we all heard a loud _THUMP!_ It came from outside the wall, but we all jumped anyways. "What the heck was that?" asked another man with blond hair, freckles, and brown eyes. Then, a woman with long black hair, a bit of a tan, and hazel eyes came in and said, very loudly, "THE PARTY HAS ARRIVED!" The man with freckles cringed. "Hi, Jocelyn." he muttered. Her face brightened up when she saw him. "Sean! Nice to see you again! How's Travis and Becky?" she asked.

"They're great." said Sean. "Didn't Travis get a job in the orchestra?" she asked. Sean nodded. "Oh, that's wonderful! You two get to work together now!" she said. Anita smiled when she saw Jocelyn. "Hi, Joss!" she said. "Anita!" squealed Joss. Anita got up and the two of them hugged. "Was that loud thump we heard you?" she asked Joss. "Yeah, I bumped into the wall." said Joss. "Are you okay?" asked Ethel. "Yeah. I bump into the wall for fun sometimes." said Joss.

Sean did a facepalm. Then he saw us with our weirded out expressions, and smiled. "She does this often. I worked with her in Dear Evan Hansen. We understudied the lead roles." he explained.

"We had to kiss." said Joss, resulting in another facepalm from Sean. "It was awkward, because Sean already has a husband. Their daughter on the other hand found the whole thing amusing when we told her." said Joss. "She's five! She thinks everything's fun and happy." said Sean.

By now, Sean and Joss had joined us in our crawling, and we were all listening with interest. After they were done talking, I spoke up. "So, you have a daughter?" I asked Sean. He nodded. "Yeah. Me and my husband Travis adopted her from England when she was born five years ago. She loves CATS, and got really excited when we told her that we're both gonna work on it. Travis in in the orchestra." he explained. "That's really cool." I said.

Suddenly, I felt my hand hit a puddle of something, then slide out from under me. "Whoa!" I yelped, then I felt someone kneel down and catch me. "Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry!" said the voice. It was a young woman, who looked a few years older than me. She had sandy blond hair and amber eyes. "My water bottle spilled, and I guess I didn't see it." she went on. I got up. "That's okay. Here, let me help you." I said as she started to mop it up with a paper towel. Ethel, Joss, Sean, Anita, and Jared followed my example. "Thanks." she said. "I'm Charity. Charity Diesel. I play Bombalurina, and it's my Broadway debut." she said.

"My name's Donatello, but you can call me Donnie." I said. We shook hands. After we got the water cleaned up and everyone introduced themselves to Charity, we invited her to crawl around with us. We were getting some strange looks from everyone else, but we didn't care.

A little later, everyone was taking a break and eating lunch. As we ate, we talked about our families. Ethel was just finishing up about all of her little sisters, when she asked me about my family. "Well, I have my father, an older sister, two older brothers, a little brother, my older brother-in-law, and my girlfriend." I explained. "My father is from Japan. His name is Yoshi Hamato. My sister was also born in Japan. Her name is Miwa. Her mother died when she was one, and that's why my father came here. After he came, he adopted me and my brothers. We're quadruplets. My sister got married a year ago, to our friend Casey, and I have a girlfriend named April." I finished.

Everyone else listened with interest. "Wow! Quadruplets!" said Ethel. "That's so cool! Do they have artist names too?" she asked. Whoa! She got it right of the bat! "Yes, actually." I said. "When we were adopted, my father found a book on Renaissance artists, and picked out our names from there. My oldest brother is Leonardo, or Leo. Then there's Raphael, or Raph, then me, and finally, Michelangelo, or Mikey."

My new friends thought that was really cool. After that, everyone got back to crawling right away. Well, almost everyone. Joss did a penguin slide by accident, then kept doing it for a while until she got tired and resorted back to crawling. That's what we did for the rest of the rehearsal until it was time to go home.

"Something tells me that this is gonna be the time of my life." said Charity as we left. I nodded. Then I saw April waiting in the Party Wagon. She smiled and waved. I waved back, an equally bright smile plastered onto my face. "Is that April?" asked Jared. "Yeah." I said. "Bye, Donnie!" said Ethel. "Bye, Ethel!" I said. Then lifted my head up to my new friends. "Bye everyone! I'll see you tomorrow!" They all said goodbye, then I turned and joyfully bounced into the Party Wagon. April grinned. "See? I knew that you would make some friends." she said.

"Yeah." I answered. And knowing that these were the people that I would be working with over the next months, I could tell that everything was gonna be fine. I mean, what could go wrong?

 **A/N.  
Donnie, you should know better than to say that. Tons of shenanigans could happen, and those normally end in chaos.**

 **Now, before we leave, I'm going to explain some stuff. This** _ **fictional**_ **revival of CATS has nothing to do with the 2016 revival of CATS. The cast list is entirely owned by me (except for Donnie, I do not own him). In this version, the revival opens on January 30th, 2017, and will stay open for an unnamed amount of time (probably for a long time, knowing me). The actual revival opened on July 31th, 2016, and will close on December 30th, 2017. The 2016 revival cut the song 'Growltiger's Last Stand', but it will be present in this version. The 2016 revival also had Jemima and Sillabub as the same character (named Sillabub, but looks like Jemima), but they will be separate characters in this version. And, in the 2016 revival, the character Etcetera was cut entirely, but will be in this version. Also, in this version, the revival will be playing at The Palace Theater. The actual revival opened (and will play until December 30th) at The Neil Simon Theater. I do not own either TMNT or CATS The Musical. I just wanted to let everyone know all that so no one is confused.**

 **Now, once you're done reading, leave a review, favorite, follow, and as always…**

 **Stay Tuned! ;)**


	4. Conjuring Turns

**A/N.  
Hi! Welcome to chapter four!**

 **Before we begin, I forgot to say something last time. The characters Plato and Admetus are normally put together (or the character's name is Plato in the Broadway version, but in London his name is Admetus), but since they were separate in the film, I'll be doing that version. They will be separate here, too. Also, a quick note. This will mostly be in Donnie's POV, occasionally April, but no one else.**

 **Now, with that out of the way, once you're done, leave a review, favorite, follow, and as always…**

 **Enjoy!  
**  
 **Chapter Four: Conjuring Turns  
** _(Donnie's POV)  
_ The second I knew things were gonna be crazier then I thought, was the second that Jared came in with a camera.

I had no idea that it was even there until it was already filming. Turns out, Jared was doing a little Youtube series for , and was going around to a few people who was making their Broadway debuts and having them officially introduce themselves, so that everyone who would be coming to CATS would get to know the actors and actresses that they were going to see. One of actors he featured was me, and he went to me first.

When I looked up and saw that camera, I literally almost jumped out of my skin. "Whoa!" I yelped. "Umm…...you have a camera! Nice!...Jared, you didn't tell me you were going to film me." I trailed off, making sure to add in extra deadpan at the end. But it was mock deadpan, don't worry. "I know, but I wanted to surprise you." Jared answered from behind the camera.

I laughed and did a facepalm. "So, tell us about yourself." Jared continued. I lifted my face up to the camera and grinned. "My name is Donatello Hamato, I just turned twenty years old, and I play the part of Mistoffelees." Jared nodded. "Are you excited about your Broadway debut?" My smile seemed to widen by a thousand miles. "Heck yeah!" I answered enthusiastically. "One more question." said Jared, then made his face go all serious. I giggled cheekily, knowing this was gonna be a nutty question. I nodded. "Bring it on, I'm ready." I told him.

"Can you show us a bit of…'The Conjuring Turn?" asked Jared dramatically. I couldn't help bursting into laughter. 'The Conjuring Turn' that Jared was talking about is Misto's signature and most famous move in the show. It is a series of non-stop spins on one leg, with the other leg completely extended to the side. Not many people can do that. The record of turns was in the thirties, set back during the national tour of the show. Thankfully, the choreography was changed a bit to make it easier for me. I was only gonna have to do a little bit over twelve in a row. Still challenging though. I had been practicing a lot, but haven't got it right yet. Oh well. Practice makes perfect, and I've got two months.

"Sadly, 'The Conjuring Turn' isn't ready to be viewed yet, but I can do this!" I said playfully, then backed up and threw up my leg to the point where it was over my head. Then I grabbed onto my ankle with my right hand, and beamed at the camera. Tyler seemed pretty impressed. As a matter in fact, a few people in the room whistled and applauded! The person who had gotten most excited was Ethel. She was clapping and jumping up and down. Anita stood next to her grinning. I was doing one of Victoria's signature moves, so that made sense. "Maybe you can give Victoria a run for her money!" she called out to me jokingly. We all laughed at what she said for a while before Jared walked off to film someone else.

"That was very interesting." I heard a low voice say behind me. I turned to see Lydia Stacey, who was playing the show's protagonist, Grizabella. I felt kind of intimidated when I was around Lydia. She was a very famous Broadway actress, known for playing the role of Cosette in 'Les Mis' a few years back. She had dark green eyes, flowing brown hair, and a nice but serious smile. She was just intimidating in general. That, and she was a head taller than me. I blushed. "Thanks, Lydia." I said. She smiled. "You're welcome." she said. She sounded very wise. It reminded me of Sensei. "Come on, why don't we talk outside?" she asked, gesturing out the door. I nodded, then turned to my friends. "I'll be right back!" I called out. They nodded, while Lydia and I went out into the hallway, which we began to walk down.

"So, how do you feel about all this?" she asked. "It's kind of challenging at times, but overall, pretty cool." I answered. "Your family must be very proud of you. The role of Mistoffelees is a very hard one to fill." she said. I went pale. How was I supposed to tell her that they didn't even know?! "Um...well...I…" was all I could get out before she turned to me. "Did you not tell them?" she asked, sounding surprised. I could only stare. "How did you figure it out?!" I asked. "You had a look on your face." she answered. "I'm very good at reading expressions."

I weakly smiled. "I'll keep that in mind. And no, I haven't told them. I'm not exactly ready to, and the only person who knows is my girlfriend, April. She's the person I can trust the most with the secret." Lydia nodded. "I understand. Does anyone else in the cast know that you haven't told anyone?" I shook my head. "You can tell them if you want." I said. She nodded. "I'll do that."

I sighed in relief. At least it was another weight off my chest. Lydia grinned and put her hand on my shoulder. "Don't worry about anything, Donnie. We're all on your side, and your family will understand that when you eventually decide to tell them." I could tell that I was blushing once again. But I was happy. "Thank you for your support." I quietly said. She grinned. "You deserve it." Then she leaned down to whisper something into my ear. "Do you remember when Andrew Lloyd Webber and Elaine Paige came a few days ago?"

I nodded. Gillian Lynn wasn't the last person who was involved with the original show to come and check us out. Andrew Lloyd Webber (the creator of the show in the first place!) and Elaine Paige (the original Grizabella) had come to see our progress a few days ago, which had been pretty nerve racking. I had been watching Elaine Paige sing 'Memory' for fifteen years now over and over again, and now I was actually meeting her! But it was incredible to meet them. I told them that the video was what had inspired me to dance, and they were so happy and honored.

Anyways, Lydia kept talking, and what she said next blew my mind. "I overheard Andrew saying to someone else that out of everyone who had walked into those auditions, you were the best choice for Mistoffelees he had seen yet!" My jaw dropped, and it took me a few seconds to digest what she had told me. "L-L-Lydia!" I finally spluttered. "Are you sure he said exactly that?!" I was shocked. I couldn't have been that good...could I? Had those fifteen years of dancing finally payed off into something more incredible than I had ever thought? Lydia nodded. "My ears didn't deceive me." I knew that she was telling the truth. But still, that's got to the most stunning news I had ever received. On the bright side, the happiest too! Oh boy, just wait until April hears this!

When I went back in, Ethel motioned for me to go over. I hurried over to where she was. "You okay?" she asked. "You look a little pale." I nodded. "Everything's fine. I'm okay." Ethel smiled, then looked over my shoulder. "Hi, Lydia!" I turned around to see Lydia. She waved, then went back to whispering into the ears of a few of the boys, which included Freddie, Raymond, Mark, Drake, and Julian. I knew she was telling them about what I had told her, but I was okay with it.

Ethel smiled. "So, how are all of your dance numbers going?" she asked. "It's going good." I answered. "I've been putting a lot of time into them, because I haven't gotten them quite right yet, but I've been working on it."

I'll have to admit, a lot of time was a little bit of an understatement. Every spare moment that I had, I took. I barely hung out with my brothers anymore for the past few weeks. They've been pretty fooled by Rockwell's claim, but Leo's been getting irritated that I'm not around as much. When I'm not around, I would say I'm on the surface working with Rockwell, but I've either been in rehearsal or at my private dancing spot with April. Even though we're doing well with this little fib that we have going, it won't exactly last forever. I've been extremely careful not to let anything slip, but there have been a few close calls.

One of which was when, for some reason, Sensei was out doing some special training with April and Miwa and left Leo in charge. He told us we shouldn't leave the lair under any circumstances because he had to keep an eye on us. I was so thankful that rehearsal had ended three hours before. So, since I couldn't leave (especially with Leo's hawk-like eyes), I snuck into the lab, pushed all of the tools and equipment up against the walls, and practiced there. I managed to get a full few hours in before it happened. I had just finished doing a series of complicated flips and twirls, and was standing unmoving in the middle of the lab, when Raph came in to check on me. Without even thinking, I grabbed my staff from where it was leaning against the wall, and chased Raph right out of there shouting at him that if he dared tell a soul about anything that he saw, he would find cockroaches baked in with his pizza.

Another time that got me close to getting caught was when I decided to work on doing a split. I realized that at some point in the show, Misto would end up doing one. I hadn't done a split in a long time, so I would have to work it out. Anyways, I had been preoccupied with that for a while before I got a text from Raph saying that Leo was insisting that I took a break from the 'project' and come to morning training. I got there and we trained for a while, but during it, I was ducking from one of Raph's attacks, my foot slid, and the next thing I knew, I was doing a full blown split in front of my siblings and father!

None of my brothers can do a split, and of course that means that they thought I couldn't do one either, so this was a pretty big surprise to them. I played it off as if I didn't even know I could do one, and they seemed pretty convinced. Well, the point was, that I had achieved my goal and had done a split...until I realized that I had gotten stuck, and my siblings literally had to unfold me. I was in **so** much pain at rehearsal later that day, in both my legs and dignity.

Lucky me...

To top it all off, I've had a pretty stressful past few weeks. But, little by little, I've been pushing through.

Suddenly, Isabella, the girl playing Rumpleteazer, came running up to me and Ethel. She had Jared's camera in her hands, so I knew something was up. "Guys, we borrowed Jared's camera, and a few of us are going down to the theater to try on all the wigs! Do you want to come?" Ethel and I agreed, and a few minutes later we were walking down the street with Taylor, who played Sillabub, and Woody (short for Woodrow), who played Coricopat (and the only other boy who would come).

We went into the theater through the stage door. The set was still under construction, and it wouldn't be ready until three weeks from now, but it was cool watching the building process. After that, we went downstairs to try on all the wigs. I found mine pretty fast. It looked really cool, entirely black with white tips on the ears. I slowly put it on, then turned around to find that the others had done the same. Ethel's was a spikey brown one, Woody's was a sleek brown and white one with an orange stripe, Isabella's was an orange, black, and white one that stood up in a bunch of different places, and Taylor's was a light golden one, which went nicely with her dark skin and eyes. I looked in the mirror, taking in how my wig looked on my head. It was strange, thinking about how I was going to be acting as an entirely different creature. But on the other hand, this kind of thing only happened once in a lifetime. So, I was gonna roll with it.

Far too soon after we came back, rehearsal was over, the camera was turned off for the day, and we had to go home. I walked back into the lair with April, silently humming 'Memory' as I went in. Leo looked up as I came in. "Hi guys! Donnie, how'd it go today?"

"Oh, it went great!" I said enthusiastically. I was in a pretty good mood, so why not? Leo nodded, grinned, and went back to watching Space Heroes. I went into my room to put my stuff away, but then found myself thinking about what Lydia had told me earlier. " _Don't worry about anything, Donnie. We're all on your side, and your family will understand that when you eventually decide to tell them."_ I knew I could trust in her words, for they were true, but I still couldn't help having doubts. In a few short weeks, I wouldn't just be transforming into a different creature on stage. I would be a whole different creature to my brothers, far from the one they knew and loved.

The only question was if they would love the new Donatello just the same.

 **A/N.  
Yay! Another one done!**

 **I was pretty excited to do this one, because it also introduced more characters, a whole bunch of rehearsal madness, some of which is based off of the actual Youtube series, What's New Pussycat?, done by Tyler Hanes, the actual Tugger on Broadway, and of course, some conflict among Donnie's emotions. He's really having a hard time believing that his family with like what he'll have to offer. But, it'll all turn out okay in the end...or will it?**

 **Now, once you're done reading, leave a review, favorite, follow, and as always…**

 **Stay tuned! ;)**


	5. Into The Junkyard

**A/N.  
Hi everyone! Welcome back!**

 **Now, after some decision making, I am deciding to make this a tiny bit shorter than it normally would have been. My story writing has been a bit backed up, so I have come to a conclusion that I won't work on any of my other stories (other than 'Sissy', because that one seems to be popular), until these two are completed. It is a final decision, but it was easier working on five stories at a time rather than seven, and that's why I went with it. Also, on September 17th, it was my one year Fanfiction Anniversary! The day after it was the first anniversary of my first fanfiction, 'What If'. Wow, time flies fast!**

 **Now, one more thing. For a short time, at the end of this chapter, it will switch to Mikey's POV.**

 **Anywho, that's just about all I have to say. Once you're done reading, leave a review, favorite, follow, and as always…**

 **Enjoy!**

 **Chapter Five: Into The Junkyard  
** _(Donnie's POV).  
_ "Well, …..we have been in the rehearsal studio for the past four weeks...but today...we're finally going to the theater!"

Everyone in the studio cheered as Jared spoke into the camera. We have been waiting for this day for a long time now, and everyone seemed to be getting a bit stir crazy. Oh my gosh, the things we were doing. Luckily, we had gotten a lot of things done in the past two weeks.

Believe it or not, we were already in early December! It got pretty cold out, so everyone usually arrives bundled up and freezing. I just hope we weren't expecting a blizzard anytime soon. But we managed to learn the entire Jellicle Ball, and a few other songs (mine included!), and of course, as Jared said, the theater was ready, and we were heading there today. I was going to get my bag, when everyone in the studio began buzzing with excitement about something. Puzzled, I went to the middle of the crowd that the rest of the cast had formed, and saw a little five-year-old girl. She had blond hair in two little ponytails, and pale blue eyes. She was holding onto Sean's hand, and looking around in excitement. "Where's Donnie?" she asked Sean.

My heart just melted, right then and there. She actually wanted to see me! Sean saw me and beckoned me over. I obliged, and kneeled down to the little girl's height. "Hi. You, um, wanted to see me?" I asked. She turned around to face me, and her little face lit up so bright. Sean laughed. "Donnie, this is my daughter, Becky. I told you about her before, right?"

"Oh yeah! Hi Becky!" I said to her. "Hi Donnie." she said. Then she whispered into my ear: "Misto's my favorite character. I want to be just like him when I grow up." I grinned. "You know what, I think that might just happen." I told her. She gasped. "You mean it?!" I nodded. She began jumping up and down. "YAY! Daddy, Daddy! Donnie said I might be just like Misto when I grew up!" Sean nodded. "Yeah, I heard." Becky turned back to me. "How long have you been dancing?"

"Fifteen years. Ever since I was your age." I answered. Becky's eyes widened. "Wow...how old are you?" Everyone busted out laughing. "I-I just t-t-turned twenty." I managed to get out between laughs. Sean was practically on the floor. "Travis! A little help here?!" he breathlessly got out after he stopped laughing. One of the violin players that I've seen on occasion came over. He had light brown hair and blue eyes. "Okay, I'll help." he said, helping up Sean. "Don't you always?" Sean asked jokingly. "Oh, I'm just messing with you." Travis answered with a smile. Then he turned to me. "So, you must be Donnie. I've heard a lot about you."

He held out his hand, which I took happily. "I've heard about you a lot too." I answered. "It's nice to meet you." Becky went over to her fathers and smiled. "My daddies are so cool. I'm glad you're friends with them, Donnie!" I smiled down at her. "They are really cool, Becky." Becky grinned back at me. "Are you going to the theater?" she asked. I nodded. "We're just about to head there, actually." She began to jump up and down. "YAY!" she shouted. "I get to go to the Junkyard!"

' _I get to go to the Junkyard.'_ Suddenly, it reflected on me just how much that sentence impacted me. I could feel the child in me's heart skip a beat. This was what I had wanted. This is what I was waiting for since the day I saw the tape. This was my dream, and for the first time, it was making its way into reality. I saw my five-year-old self in Becky's eyes. She was just like me.

No sooner than I had come to this realization, we were all walking down the street to Times Square. For this revival, the theater was right in Times Square. The Palace Theater. A very beautiful building. It's played many very successful shows. I couldn't wait to be inside.

A few people walking around actually recognized us (despite the fact that it was snowing and we were all bundled up in layer after layer), and began to get excited. We were stopping every few paces to have fans of the show run up and say how cool we were or to take pictures. A little ways into this, Jared managed to pull out his camera, and everything just went crazy from there. That is, everyone who realized what his camera was for began to go crazy trying to get into the video.

"Donnie!" I turned around to once again find the camera pointed at me. "Is it crazy out here or what?!" I nodded. "It's chaos!" I said. Truth be told, we were attracting a crowd. Sean had Becky on his shoulders so she wouldn't get squished by the group, and I was tempted to do the same thing for Ethel. Everyone was bumping into everyone, and we had to get away. Luckily, we got out of the crowd and entered Times Square. Joss went by shivering like crazy. "Joss, are you alright?" I asked.

She shook her head. "No! I got a brain freeze! So I got this!" she said, holding up a milkshake. "But that only made it worse!" It was all I could do not to laugh out loud, but a few snickers definitely escaped me. "Um, Joss...I hate to break it to you, but that's not how to get rid of a brain freeze. You can't exactly fight fire with fire in this situation." I explained, laughing a little again. Joss stared at me for a few seconds, pondering on what I said, then she shrugged and took another sip. The she went running ahead of the cast and crew shouting; "ARRRRGGGGHHHH! IT FEELS LIKE I SWALLOWED MINI ANTARCTICA!"

That was what got us laughing. Pretty soon, we were nothing but a fit of giggles. "Okay… that was awesome!" said Charity. "And what's more, I got the whole thing on tape!" said Jared, holding up his camera. We all laughed again. "Jared, you're always filming at exactly the right time!" I said.

A short time later, the Palace Theater was in sight. It was really beautiful in general, but now up close, it was even more magnificent. It fit right in with the surrounding buildings and billboards and everything. We entered through the stage doors, which lead right onto the stage from the left. When we got to the stage…

Everyone, including me, was just in awe. We couldn't speak. We couldn't move. We could just barely breath. I feel as if this had been the one moment that everyone had been waiting for. We were just realizing now how real this was for us. Needlessly, it was more real than we thought. More than we had anticipated. And as we stood, drinking it all in, we were in love.

I felt someone come up next to me. It was Anita. "Hi." she whispered. "Hi, Anita." I whispered back. Anita pointed to the front of the stage, and I couldn't help but chuckle. Ethel was standing at the very front of the stage, standing poised on her toes, like a little bird. Her big green eyes were wide with excitement as she simply stared out into the empty audience.

"I realize why they chose her." said Anita. "She's not just an incredible singer...she clearly represents innocence. That's one of the main things Jemima does. They casted her spot on." Anita was right. Watching someone so pure, just light up the entire room by standing on stage, was beautiful. Ethel had really deserved the part, from the beginning, and we were all so proud. Especially me. I had come to see a little sister in the young girl. And that was fine by me.

No sooner than that happened, we got to work. Mostly everyone began climbing around the set, just to get the feel of it. Whenever Becky wanted to go somewhere, Sean would help her around. She basically thought of everything as a giant playground, and was having the time of her life. Everyone was leaping around, scurrying up and down the sets, crawling and sliding across the stage (and, yes, Joss once again started to penguin slide. Something tells me that the cast and crew members that she knocked down weren't too happy).

A little while into this, someone called me backstage. I went back there, but when I arrived, I froze in shock. Coming down all the way from the ceiling, was a long, black rope. This was Mistoffelees's entrance. During his song, he's lowered down from the ceiling on a rope, to make it seem as if he's flying down into the center of the Junkyard. And it looked as if they wanted me to test it!

Sure enough, I was getting strapped into a safety harness, while hanging onto the rope, while my left foot was safely inside a small loop at the end of the rope, so I could stand. I was pretty nervous, and it looked as if Jared wanted to get that on camera, because he was filming again. I laughed. "You nervous, Donnie?" he asked. "You're not exactly helping." I answered honestly. Jared and I both burst out laughing. "Okay, yes, I'm nervous." I said after we finished. One of the stagehands came back. "Okay, Donnie, you ready?" he asked. I nodded. Suddenly, the rope slowly started going up. I gasped. "Oh my gosh!" I said excitedly.

Jared smiled. "Bye Donnie…" he said menacingly as the camera followed his gaze which was going upwards. "Stop that!" I laughed back at him.

Pretty soon, I was up in the ceiling. "Okay, we're going to lower you down to the stage! Ready?!" someone down in stage left called up to me. "Yes!" I answered. The rope began going down. That was really the scary part. I was scared that I would slip, or the rope would snap, anything. That is, until down on the stage, Jared called out this:

" _And we all say…!"_

He then pointed up, and everyone began laughing and started to sing the lyrics to Misto's song as I was lowered onto the stage.

" _Oh, well, I never was there ever, a cat so clever as Magical Mr. Mistoffelees!"_

I had joined in, but it broke off into chuckles and shouts of joy. Anita was up front. "Anita!" I shouted, running over. "I just did that!" She smiled at me. "I know Donnie, that was amazing!" she said.

It was all over too fast. But we would be back tomorrow. For now, I had to get home. After saying goodbye to everyone and getting home with April, Mikey came up to me. He looked like he had something on his mind. I grinned. "Okay Mikey. What's wrong?" I asked. Mikey's eyes widened. "Whoa! Did you read my mind?!"

I laughed. "No, I didn't. I just could tell that you wanted to say something. Now, what do you want to tell me? I'm listening." I said. Mikey began glancing around and put his hands behind his back. "Um...I know you're busy with that crazy project with Rockwell...but I was thinking...tonight, do you just want to go to Times Square and just look around? We haven't spent that much time together since our mutation day, and I really, _really_ miss you. It'll be just the two of us, and I already asked Leo and he said it was okay. Please, D?"

I realized he was right. I haven't spent much time with him ever since I began working on CATS! I missed my baby brother too. Well, you can guess what I told him a few seconds later. I have never seen an expression change from pleading to euphoria so fast.

A few minutes later, we were in Times Square, looking around. It had gotten dark out, so it looked even more incredible at night! Mikey was enjoying every second of this, and so was I. All the billboards and screens were illuminated even brighter, and they were all reflecting in my little brother's baby blue eyes.

"Donnie, what's that billboard for?" he asked suddenly. I looked up, and saw that he was pointing to a Broadway billboard. It was Wicked. "Well, Mikey, that's a billboard for Broadway." I answered. "Broad-what?" he asked. I giggled at his confusion. "Broadway, Mikey. It's a series of musicals and plays that play in large theaters. Billions of people go every year." I explained. "The show you just so happened to ask about is called Wicked. It's a story that takes place before The Wizard of Oz."

"Oh! I remember that! We watched that when we were little!" Mikey exclaimed.

I nodded. "Wicked is about what happened to the Wicked Witch of the West before she was wicked. And it also tells how she used to be friends with Glinda, because they went to college together."

Mikey's eyes went wide. "Wow! I never knew that!" he said. "There's always more to a story than you think." I said. "And there's other things on Broadway that we already know about, like, The Lion King. That's one of the most popular ones to go to. Very expensive." I said, pointing the the signs. "As a matter in fact, it's playing in that theater right there." I said. We has come to the Minskoff Theater, and Mikey stared in awe. "It's big." was his only comment.

We both just laughed. Once we were finished, I managed to get out "I know." The fact that those two words were all I could think of was even funnier than Mikey's comment, so once again all we could do was laugh.

Eventually, our chuckles died down, and Mikey managed to breath out one more question. "And, what's that one?" he asked, pointing to another theater.

"Which one?" I asked, smiling, before I turned around…

And once again, finding myself face to face with The Palace Theater. The billboard above it for CATS was still going strong. I swear, to this day, that my heart nearly stopped altogether.

' _Is this it?!'_ I thought. ' _Is my secret coming out?! Not now, definitely not now!'_ I was panicking. Mikey couldn't know. None of them could know! I had to say something, fast, because the more I stared, the more it looked suspicious. What was I going to do?! Suddenly, I felt a small pair of arms wrap firmly around my knees, and a little voice shout "Donnie!"

I looked down to see a familiar little blond-haired girl. "Becky?!" I asked. "Who?" asked Mikey, looking at Becky with confusion. I turned to him while kneeling down. "Oh, she's the daughter of a friend of mine. Now, Becky, where on earth are your dads?" I asked, looking around for either Travis or Sean. "Oh, Daddy's right over there!" said Becky, pointing behind me.

Sean came running up at top speed, out of breath and holding a phone to his ear. "Sorry Anita, I just needed to find Becky. She wandered off." he said into the phone. "Hold on a second." Then he turned to me. "Hi Donnie!" I stood up and waved. "Hi Sean." I said quietly. Mikey stepped forwards. "Okay D, what is going on?"

"Um…" I trailed off, then sent Sean a look that clearly said ' _Help me!'_ Sean knew that my family didn't know my secret, so he caught right on. "Oh, I'm just a friend of his. We met a few months ago, right?" he asked me. "Yeah, at the beginning of October!" I said. Mikey nodded. "Oh, okay." he said. "Yeah, and I met Becky today. We ran into each other, earlier too." I said.

Becky looked up and grinned. "Hi!" she said to Mikey. "Are you one of Donnie's friends too?" she asked. "I'm actually his little brother." said Mikey. "Are you twenty too?" she asked. Sean and I quickly brought our hands up to our mouths to keep ourselves from laughing again, like at rehearsal. "Yes." said Mikey. Then, Becky said something that made me and Sean's mouths drop wide open.

"Your brother is a good singer." she said gleefully. "He has a nice soprano."

Sean immediately leaned down to her height. "Um, honey, now's not a good time to say that." I didn't say anything. The fact that we came **so close** to getting caught was still a bit shocking. And I thought we were out of the woods! Then again…..I had no idea I had a soprano…..so, I guess that was interesting information.

I don't think Mikey thought the same. He just looked a little stunned. Then, to my relief, he shrugged. "Okay." Sean was talking to Anita again. Then he turned to me. "Donnie, Anita needs to talk to you." he held out the phone to me.

I took it. "Anita, what is it?" I asked. "Donnie, we've got a problem. I've been trying to reach everyone from the theater, and they all need to know!" she said, sounding panicked. "Anita, I'm very sorry, but this isn't a good time. My brother's here, and so is Becky, and I don't want to panic them." I said. "Okay." said Anita. When you get home, make sure you're alone, then contact me immediately. If you trust anyone else with this, then bring them too." I nodded. "Okay, I'll skype you when we get home." I said, then handed the phone back to Sean. He held the phone up to his ear, then nodded. "Okay, you're going to text all of them and tell them about the skype?" he asked. Then he nodded. "Alright. I hope this is not too severe." he said before hanging up.

"Sorry you two, I have to get Becky home. Donnie, see you on the skype." he said, then he took Becky's hand and ran down the street with her. She looked back at me. "Bye Donnie!" she called. "Bye, Becky!" I said, waving.

Mikey had stood there watching us for the past few minutes. He looked as if he had just gained amnesia, because he had no clue what was happening. Oh Mikey, if only you knew… "We should probably head home now." I said. "Leo wouldn't want us out in the snow for too long." True to my words, it had been snowing very hard, and we were both shivering. "We can come back another time, I promise." I said, putting a hand on Mikey's shoulder. He looked like he was disappointed, but he nodded.

When we got back, I went right to my room. April was finishing up her training with Master Splinter, and I motioned her to come with me. My room looked normal enough, so they wouldn't tell where we were. We ran to my room, locked the door, and pulled up skype. Sure enough, Anita was there, but also there was Charity, Ethel, Jared, Sean, and Jocelyn. I was delighted to see them again.

After introducing them all to April, we got right down to business. "So, Anita, what happened earlier. You sounded uneasy." I said. Anita took a deep breath, and said something that shook me to my core. "My parents were attacked by a mutant today!" she said. "WHAT?!" we all shouted. April quickly ran to the door, opened it, and shouted "Nothing's wrong! You don't need to come in here!" She then locked it again and went back over. "Nice save." I said. She smiled.

"Are your parents okay?!" asked Ethel worriedly. Anita nodded. "My dad fought him off before any damage could be done. But Donnie, he said he was looking for you!" Uh oh. I think I knew who she was talking about. And from the look on April's face, she thought the same. "Was he a mutant tiger?" I asked. Anita (who looked a little astonished) nodded her head. "He said his name was Tiger Claw." she added.

April and I groaned. Tiger Claw had escaped us a long time ago, when we were almost sixteen. We still couldn't find him, and eventually agreed that he wasn't coming back. Apparently, he was trying one last time to get us and wipe us out. "How did you know that?" asked Charity. "I've had some experience with other mutants in the past. Tiger Claw caused some trouble for me and my family when I was a teenager. It's not something I talk about." I said. "Oh." everyone else said at the same time.

"Well, how long do we have before he comes back?" asked Joss. "A week." said Anita. "He said we have a week to give up Donnie before he strikes again. I think he might try attacking the theater!" We all gasped. We hadn't thought of that. "Why don't we set up an ambush?" asked Jared.

"I'll bring April with me. We know Ninjutsu." I said.

"My daddy works close by. I'll keep him in touch in case something goes wrong." Ethel suggested.

"Travis can help, he learned self defence when he was younger. Becky can stay with my sister Beatrice that day." said Sean.

"I can call up my mom. She was a security guard at a museum, so she knows this type of thing." said Anita.

"I'll call my sister in for backup." said Charity. "But you can't tell anyone about her when you see her."

"I have a few aunts and uncles associated with the FBI." said Jared.

"I'll bring some of my dad's military stuff!" said Joss.

"NO!" we all said at once. "Um, we don't need to go that extreme." said April.

"So, we wait for Tiger Claw to show up…" I started. "And then we hit him with everything we've got!" said Ethel, balling her fists. We discussed it for a few more minutes before eventually signing off. I was excited, but nervous. What was going to happen if Tiger Claw did attack the theater? And what would happen if it were to lead to a bigger disaster. Would my family learn my secret?...

Or would my friends learn my _other_ secret?

 _(Mikey's POV).  
_ I couldn't believe what I just heard. I thought about it as I ran to the dojo. "Sensei!" I called out.

Sensei open the door for me. "What is it, Michelangelo?" he asked. "Tiger Claw's back in the city, and I think Donnie's gonna do something dangerous!" I said. "What?" he asked. "Yeah! I heard him and April in his room talking with their friends on skype! I think they're gonna go after him themselves!" I said. I was scared. What on earth has Donnie gotten himself into?! Sensei also looked concerned. We were both worried for the brainy resident of the lair. "What should we do, Sensei?" I asked. Splinter thought for a moment, then answered.

"When are they planning this attack?" I asked. "In one week, from today I mean." I answered. "I will follow him and April that day and see what is really going on." he said. I nodded. As long as Donnie was out of trouble. Speaking of which…"Um, Master Splinter? Is it okay if you don't tell the others about this? I don't want to get Donnie in trouble with Leo."

Sensei nodded. "I won't tell them anything. I promise, Michelangelo." he said honestly. I sighed in relief. Donnie was gonna be okay. But...something was still a little off. Something that still had to do with Donnie, which wasn't right. It took a few minutes, but I finally cracked it.

Whatever Donnie was up to…..it had nothing to do with science.

 **A/N.  
AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! THAT CHAPTER WAS SO MUCH FUN TO WRITE!**

 **I might add a few more Mikey POV's to the story. They're fun to do. Also...CRAZINESS IS GOING DOWN IN THE NEXT CHAPTER! I'M SO EXCITED!**

 **That's just about it. Once you're done, leave a review, favorite, follow, and as always…**

 **Stay tuned! ;)**


	6. Bleeding Secrets

**A/N.  
Once again, greetings from this chapter of More Than Just Me!**

 **Thank you so much for the new review! I love that you love the story! This story is by far one of my favorites that's been published.**

 **DISCLAIMER: VICTORIA AND MISTOFFELEES DO NOT DO THE DANCE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE JELLICLE BALL TOGETHER! VICTORIA DOES IT WITH PLATO! BUT I WANTED MISTO TO DO IT IN THIS VERSION!...yeah, that's all. No big deal. Also, I don't own anything except for OC's (a.k.a, the entire cast besides Donnie. And the cast's families...except for Donnie's).**

 **This chapter's gonna be crazy, so brace yourselves! And once the ride is over, leave a review, favorite, follow, and as always…**

 **Enjoy!**

 **Chapter Six: Bleeding Secrets  
** _(Donnie's POV).  
_ "So, I have to hold her like this?" I asked, shifting my hands to support Anita's weight.

"Whoa! Please be careful?!" said Anita, looking down at me from her upside down position. That's right, I said **upside down**. This was a section of the musical that Victoria was supposed to perform with Plato, another character in the story, but someone decided it made more sense to have Misto do it with her, because their characters seemed closer. That was a little awkward for both Anita and I, because I had a sneaking suspicion that whoever made that change liked the idea of Misto and Vicky together, but we were determined to do this.

I just wish that April wasn't watching from the audience.

April had come to make sure that Tiger Claw didn't attack, but that also meant she had to see this. I told her what was going to happen, and she was okay with that, but it still made me feel strange. I didn't dwell on that too much though. I had to make sure I didn't drop Anita.

Eventually we perfected it, and she got to go back down to the stage. "Phew! That was kinda scary." she said. "I wouldn't have dropped you. Ever." I told her. "I don't drop friends." She smiled. "I know you wouldn't." she said. "I'm just a little scared of heights, or being lifted." I giggled. "I've had plenty of experience being lifted myself. I'm actually the lightest out of my siblings, and any of them could just do it with ease if they wanted to." I said.

That fact's been true for a long time. We found that out when we were four, even before I began dancing. I think that dancing was what really contributed to the fact that I've just never gained as much weight as my brothers. Still, it didn't bother me at all.

After that, we went on with the Jellicle Ball. This was one of the real showstoppers of the musical, and served as the semi-finale of act one, before the song 'Memory.' Memory had to be one of the most famous songs to ever be in musical theater to date. And boy, did Lydia rock those vocals.

Anyways, the ball involved a crazy amount of dancing from the actors. We were jumping around and putting all the effort and energy we had in us into this number. Kicking, jumping, twirling, prancing around, you name it, we did it. We were all pretty exhausted once we reach the final notes and all collapsed onto the stage, which is what the cats did after the dance was finished. They all ran towards the front of the stage jumped once, and literally collapsed onto the ground. I wouldn't be surprised at all if the characters needed a moment to catch their breath afterwards, too!

Once it was done, we heard applause from the tech crew backstage, and everyone else working on the show that was watching from the audience. The most cheering and clapping, however, came from April. She was up front hollering and bouncing up and down in her seat. I couldn't help but blush. Everyone scattered around the theater for a break a few seconds later, and I hopped off the stage into the first row and hugged April, which then turned to into a long kiss. "You're doing so good honey!" said April. "Aww, thanks!" I answered. Then, after looking over our shoulders, we ducked our heads down low and I whispered, "Do you sense anything yet?"

"Nothing yet." she answered. I nodded, then held her close. After Tiger Claw's warning, we were all tense for the last week. Today was the day that we were supposed to expect his unwanted arrival. April's been coming to rehearsal with me for the past week now, but other than that, we doubled our other security, so that gave everyone a little bit of comfort. But even with that, we're double checking entrances and always looking over our shoulders. My bo staff and April's tessen and tanto were being stored backstage, where no one could find them, so I was glad that I had backup.

Ethel's dad and Anita's mom were both there, ready to defend their respective daughters against Tiger Claw. Charity said her sister was there, but I hadn't seen her yet. When we asked, she said that her sister was hiding. She didn't tell us where, but I had a sneaking suspicion that it was up in the ceiling, due to all the loud thumping noises coming from up there. Good thing we weren't practicing my song today. Jared had some of his aunts and uncles (courtesy of the FBI) out guarding the front doors of the theater, but a few of them were milling around the orchestra, mezzanine, and balcony. Travis and Sean were sticking close together, tightly, and Sean was constantly texting his older sister Beatrice, to see how Becky was doing. Apparently, Becky had protested about staying home today, because she was really loving coming here everyday (and to be honest, that little girl was growing on me, too), but later on, she understood that it was so she wouldn't be put in danger. And finally, no matter how much we told her it wasn't necessary, Joss was going around wearing her dad's old military helmet. And I _really_ didn't want to know what else she brought with her. I just hope that whatever she did bring, she left it in her car.

It was around three in the afternoon when we heard it. Me being a mutant, I heard it first, and then, someone in the theater suddenly shouted "QUIET! I HEAR SOMETHING!" Everyone began spreading the news around the theater, and soon, it was the most silent that we had ever heard it. Well, silent, except for this…..

" _Scrape…...crunch…...thump!..."_

It went on for a minute, and soon, everyone realized that our intruder was coming in from the roof. One of the crew backstage went up to me, and pointed to one of the set pieces. It was the trunk of a car, which opened and closed so that some of the actors could go in and out. I dove for it as it was opened (it was being controlled by someone in the soundbooth above the balcony), to reveal Ethel was already inside it. She had crawled in from another entrance, which someone else had already closed off. The trunk slid shut by itself, leaving us with only a small light inside. Ethel and I were huddled in the corner, near the light to make us feel safer. I took out my phone. Ethel had done the same a few minutes ago. "I'm texting my dad. He's up in one of the dressing rooms with Jared. They're barricaded under a table." she had told me.

A few minutes later, we had sent word to our friends about our location. We got replies immediately. Charity had gone up into the roof to check on her sister (looks like I was right about her sister's location), Sean and Travis were under chairs in the orchestra pit, Anita had run down to the sound booth with her mom, and April was in one of the pipes with Joss. When April had texted me, I silently sighed in relief. April was fine. The fact that my friends were okay was all that mattered.

The only problem now, was that I wish I had my bo staff.

"Ethel?" I muttered under my breath. "What's wrong?" she asked. "I think I might need to make a break for it." I whispered back. She had to literally cover her mouth to keep from screaming. "Donnie!..." she almost silently trailed off. "I know, that's got to be one of the stupidest things I could do in a situation like this, but I have a bo staff hidden backstage, and I need to get it. Stay here at all costs, and whatever you do, don't make a sound! Got it?" Ethel looked as if she wanted to protest, or for one horrifying moment, go with me, but she closed her mouth silently and nodded. "Be careful." she said, and I swear, she might have had a small tear in her eye.

At that one, split second, I realized just how much I had found a sister in this little girl. She had looked willing to run out there and fight with me. I knew that Charity, Sean, Anita, Joss, and Jared would do the same if they were in Ethel's place. As a matter of fact, it was like I had found a second set of siblings in my friends. I've only known them for a few weeks, but they stand out more than anyone else in the entire company of CATS. We had become family. And there was no one that could ever say different.

" _ **CRASH!"**_

Ethel and I both jumped so high that our heads almost hit the (surprisingly low) ceiling. Ethel's bright green eyes filled with fear, and in that second, I turned right around, unblocked the back exit, and darted out into the open.

Immediately, I felt as if I were in danger. Out here, I was exposed. But I had to make sure I was armed and ready. Apparently, April had the same idea. I saw her dart past me in the darkness of the backstage. We rushed to the location of our hidden weapons, in a corner backstage. April winked at me. "I've got you're back." she mouthed. I smiled.

Suddenly, April screeched at the top of her lungs as she was pulled backwards out into the stage light. I heard other screams of surprise ring around the theater. All the sudden a noise nearly made me jump out of my skin. When I looked out on stage, I gasped in horror. Standing in the spotlight, was Tiger Claw! And what's more, he had April by the back of the neck!

Tiger Claw started talking, which I knew he was directing towards me. "Hmmmm. A theater. Not a very likely place to find a turtle." he said, mockingly. My teeth ground together with fury. How dare he!

"You know what, Tiger Claw? This theater is reserved for **real cats** , not tigers!" I shouted from the darkness, making my own comeback, and at those words, I sprinted on stage and raised my staff. "Now let her go. There's no reason to be here. You have no right." Tiger Claw growled, making my face pale a little bit. "I am here, turtle, to finish what my master started!" Without warning, he lunged. But I didn't scream in fear. I shouted "April, get out of here!" She bolted to the side of the stage, but I could see her lurking in the shadows backstage.

But now wasn't the time to worry about her, because I knew she was safe. Tiger Claw now had me pinned to the ground by my wrists. I struggled as best I could, but my hands were locked on the ground, unable to move. I could just picture them almost losing circulation, with Tiger Claw's paw crushing around the watch-

The watch!

I lifted my head to glance at it. It was still intact, but one move from Tiger Claw, and it would be gone. And my disguise along with it.

Unfortunately, that wasn't exactly the smartest move. Tiger Claw glanced at my face, followed my gaze, and his eyes rested on the watch. I began to struggle even more, but it seemed that Tiger Claw had other ideas. A wicked grin formed on his face, and I desperately began to kick and scream and draw as much attention to myself as possible. One by one, the cast and crew (and all my friends) began to run onstage to protect me, but they were too afraid to get close to Tiger Claw. "So," he said maliciously. "That's how you keep your disgusting face hidden."

"LET ME GO!" I shrieked. But he didn't listen. His paw was inching closer and closer to the one thing keeping my identity a secret, intending to rip it off and see the horrific outcome. I just keep struggling anyways. "No! No, no, no, no, no, no! Please, don't do it! DON'T!"

… _..'snap!'..._

I just sat, frozen for a second, in shock. Then I scrambled out from underneath Tiger Claw as fast as I could.

The second I was free, I brought my hands up to my face, and screamed at the top of my lungs at what I saw. The illusion the watch made was flickering, and everyone could see what I really was. I was in so much shock and horror, that all I could do was slowly lower my head, and pathetically whimper as I hid my face in my hands as best as I could, while the rest of the disguise melted away. Seconds later, it was completely gone. I was a mutant turtle again.

Several stunned cries began echoing around the theater, and my head began to spin. The faces of my friends and family began flashing in front of my eyes. They were all disgusted at something, which I vaguely figured was me. ' _They must hate me now.'_ my mind managed to think up. ' _Great! One stupid move, and now you've ruined it all! You've blown your chances of keeping both secrets! Now you have nothing!'_ I couldn't help but repeat the words out loud, muttering them softly. "I have nothing, I have nothing, I HAVE NOTHING!"

Something hard slammed into the side of my head, and everything went black…..

 _(Some time later...)  
_ ' _...Sure that we shouldn't call an ambulance?'_

' _Anita, you know what they would say if they saw him! We have to keep him here!'_

' _Oh my gosh, he's so pale. I hope he's okay.'_

' _Okay Joss, I know I've said this a million times, but it wasn't okay for your dad to park a MILITARY TANK, outside the theater!'_

' _Come on, Charity! He came so close to hitting that overgrown kitty!'_

' _Guys! Wait, he's waking up! Backup Ethel, give him some air!'_

' _Oh my gosh! Donnie! Are you okay?! Are you hurt?! Should I get-'_

' _April, let me handle this. *sigh* Donatello?...'_

My ears were ringing, loudly. It was all I could do not to hold the sides of my head and moan in agony.

Eight figures were hovering over my head, each with a worried expression on their face. I could just make them out as my vision got better. Ethel, Jared, Charity, Joss, Sean, Anita, April, and…..

Oh my gosh. Master Splinter.

I felt so sick when I saw him. He knew. He now knew. I began to flail around and panic on the stage. I was panting and gasping, as memory after memory began flooding through my train of thought. Chills went biting up my spine when I realized that both my secrets were now out in the open. It was all too much, because I sprung up, and everyone just barely got out of the way as I got sick, almost enough to make me pass out again. Every ounce of strength in my body seemed to slowly drain from me until I had no willpower to do anything but slump over to the side.

I felt a pair of arms catch me and pull me into an embrace, and I clutched whoever it was tightly, shaking and sobbing, which I was only aware of when I felt my tears soak their chest. It was, once again, Master Splinter. He was calmingly stroking the back of my head and holding me close to him, in a vain attempt to comfort me. I wanted to run away, as fast as I could, but it also felt unbelievably good to just lie there and catch my breath after that traumatic experience. I could barely even feel anything. My legs almost felt like they had suddenly ceased to exist. My eyes were starting to turn red and swollen from all the crying. No, not crying. Hyperventilating. I was truly in high levels of distress, and nothing was working to get me back to normal. Not that I'll ever go back to normal now.

How?! How could have everything have gone so wrong?!

The plan was simple. Drive Tiger Claw away and he'd be gone for good! But no, I had to go and ruin it, all because I opened my big mouth saying that I was going to get my staff! I put everyone in danger, and now they were all probably furious with me. Not just for endangering them and everyone else, but for what I was. What I had unintentionally shown them, had ruined me.

And what about Master Splinter? Somebody must have spilled to him, about everything. I was about as good as dead in that situation as well. And there was nothing I could do about it.

"Here. Drink this." said Anita, pushing a glass of water into my hands. I gratefully drank the entire cup, wanting to get my strength back. But just so that I could feel a little better, and less messed up. For some reason, I didn't feel like running off this time.

"What happened to me?" I finally dared to ask as Anita took away the glass again. My friends and April were all sitting in a circle around me and Sensei, watching me still shake in his arms. "Well, you basically had a nervous breakdown." said Jared. "You had a panic attack after….."

He didn't need to say anything more. I held my wrist up to my face. The watch was still gone, and I was still a turtle. April quickly pressed something into my hands. My watch! I went to put it around my wrist again, but Ethel stopped me by catching my hand. She shook her head again and smiled. "I like it better this way." she said softly, but sweetly.

My jaw dropped, and I couldn't help it. Did she...say what I thought she said?

"Your dad told us everything while you were unconscious." said Sean. "He burst in and took on Tiger Claw with April while we pulled you to safety. They fought hard for you, and, Tiger Claw did eventually escape, but not before Joss's dad tried to take a shot at him. Apparently, they had a tank parked around back."

Joss smiled with pride, and a middle-aged man came up and put a hand on his daughter's shoulder. "So, this is Donatello." he said. "A lot better than when you described him." Joss nodded. "Guys, this is my daddy. Wendell Jarrs. Ex Soldier, and one of the best tank drivers you'd ever see." They straightened their identical military helmets and grinned proudly.

"Well, that explains a lot about Joss." said Jared.

"Donnie, did you really think we would reject you because of what you looked like?" asked Charity. "Because we would never, ever, even dream of it. You're one of us. And even though there's no going back, we still adore having you here. No matter what. Plus, there's no way we're going to replace our Mistoffelees a this point."

More tears. From just about everybody. But this time, they were all joyful.

My friends were okay with me being a mutant. They actually accepted me! Finally, after so long! They were so amazing. I owed each and every one of them.

We went on like that for a long time, until I was ready to stand again. Anita and Sean helped me stand up, while Ethel and April kept me steady. That was one heck of a breakdown. Lucky my brothers weren't here to witness that. They would never let me hear the end of it. And hopefully, I would never have to go through something so horrible like that ever again.

Suddenly, I noticed a figure standing off to the side. Everyone was avoiding her. It was a girl, about seventeen, but not a normal girl. She looked a little bit normal, with brown hair and amber eyes, but other than that, nothing was normal. Other than that, it looked like half human, half eagle. Feathers, wings, talons, the whole thing. She was entirely silent. But looking at the eyes, I knew exactly who she was related to. I knew who else had those eyes.

I turned to my left, where Charity was sitting, staring at the mutant with grief. She knew I had seen it. "That's your sister, isn't it?" I asked.

Charity broke down, and it was my turn holding someone that day. Charity may have been a year older than me, but she was like my big sister! There was no way that I was letting her stay miserable!

"Yes." she blubbered. "That's my little sister, Angelina! She was mutated five years ago, when she was just twelve! During the invasion. We couldn't get her away fast enough when we were escaping west, to Pennsylvania where my grandparents live. We came back after everything was okay again, but there's no way to cure her." she took a break to catch her breath, then went on. "She can't even speak anymore! And we can't even dream of her making it to opening night to watch me make my debut! She always promised me, when we were really little, that she would come to watch me. That was always our dream. And now that's never gonna happen."

Our jaws were open, and the girls were all gathering around Charity with tears in their eyes. Other people were crying around us. I had to do something. And I did. I stood, shakily, because I hadn't exactly gained all my strength back after the breakdown, and walked over to Angelina, who was also silently crying. "Angelina?" I asked. She looked up at me in confusion. "My name is Donnie. I'm acting with your sister in the show. Now, listen, I know how to make something called Retro Mutagen. It can turn you back to normal. I'll do it as fast as I can, and you'll get it before opening night. Okay?"

Everyone began gasping and crying at my promise to Charity's sister. Angelina was frozen, so stunned that she had a chance to be normal again, that I thought she would faint right there and then. That is, until I felt the two sisters embraces nearly knock the wind of of me. Long story short, that nearly made me black out again. They were both so excited, and I felt happy that I would be able to make things right for them again.

With that out of the way, there was only one thing left to deal with. In the midst of everything else, I had forgotten about one problem…..

"Donatello?" I heard someone ask. I felt myself freeze up. Uh oh. This wasn't gonna go well. I slowly turned to face Master Splinter, thought I couldn't bare to look at his face. He must be fuming. "Um...can we talk alone?" I asked. I had to get this over with. Now.

"Of course, my son." said Sensei. I slowly walked backstage, then down a staircase. Sensei followed, of course, and eventually, we were in an empty room under the stage, near the sound booth. Sensei closed the door and sighed. "My son...I have no idea what on earth happened to get you here of all places, but I am not angry." My head perks up. "What?..." I ask. "I am not angry." he repeated. "Now, tell me what happened. " **Everything.** "

And it all came spilling up my throat and out into the open.

I told him absolutely everything. About the tape, and the dancing, and how April found out, and the auditions, and Rockwell, and all the rehearsals. The whole time, I'm sobbing awfully. I'm breaking down all over again, and I have to sit down before my legs eventually give out once more. I literally had to rub the feeling back into them, which I barely even had the willpower to do. All this crying was really draining me. I tell him about my fears, and what I thought my brothers would say if they knew I could dance. I tell him about my friends, and how close we had become since October. I tell him about Tiger Claw's warning, and how he came back to potentially get rid of me, or worse, just to finish what Shredder started, and our plan to double our security. And finally, I told him how he had revealed my secret to everyone, up to the point when I passed out earlier.

It's so painful, to have to tell something you've strived to keep hidden for so long. It feels different, and not in a pleasant way. But at the same time, it's a huge relief, to finally set all my anxieties and fears loose to someone I loved. Sensei listened closely, an emotionless expression on his face the entire time, but I knew he was listening. Very closely. When I was finished, I wanted to just cry as much as I could, but there was no way that was happening. I was out of tears to cry. It was embarrassing, but it was like a pain-killer at the same time. Oh my goodness, I still couldn't believe it. My father knew. Master Splinter knew my secret. But what was he going to say?

Finally, after letting me cry myself out for a little while (who knew someone could have that many tears? I surprised myself!...Then again, my emotions have been a little all over the place as of late), Sensei said something. "My son," he started, and my head shot up. I'm pretty sure I was mumbling a prayer to myself that he said something supportive. He put his hand on my shoulder, and I braced myself for the better or worse. Whichever came first.

"I am so proud of you." he said.

I swear, my eyes nearly popped right out. Once again, all I could mutter was "What?..." before I was gathered up in his arms. " Listen, Donatello. It doesn't matter to me if you are interested in science or dancing. I am proud of whatever you achieve, no matter what. You have managed to earn a place in this theater, on that stage, and you deserve it with everything you have in you. You made me so proud, my son, with what you did today. What you have done, for everyone you've met here. And you will continue to make me proud for years to come."

I didn't have any tears left, so all I could do was hold onto him and whisper "Thank you." over and over again.

He accepted me. He really did. I could barely absorb the news. It was such a good feeling to know that I now had my father's approval of my hidden life. It was just like when April found out. At first, it was terrifying, but the fear morphed into something so much better. Joy. Now that's happened twice, and I was loving every second of it.

A few minutes later, Freddie, who was playing Carbucketty, came down. "You and Jared have to run up to your dressing room quick. Someone has something for you." he said. I nodded. "Okay, I'll be up in a few minutes." Once the door closed, I turned to Sensei. "Why don't you go with April? She can give you a tour of the set." I said. "Alright, my son." Sensei answered.

As he made his way back to the stage, Jared and I ran upstairs to the dressing room that we both shared. "What do you think's up there?" I asked as we sprinted up the stairs. "I don't know, to be honest." he said. "But I have a sneaking suspicion about what it is…" he trailed off. We both laughed. Pretty soon, we had come to our dressing room door. Someone was coming out of the room. I'm pretty sure he came from downstairs, where the costumes were made. I've seen them down there a few times while visiting everyone.

Wait a minute! Where the costumes were made?!

I looked over at Jared, and he must have thought of the same answer that I had come up with, because he had the same wildly excited look in his eye that I had. We both pushed open the door, and sure enough, the costumes were ready. We couldn't help but get excited. "They look amazing!" we both said at the same time. Then we ended up laughing again because of that. "Do we get to try them on?" I asked. "I think so." said Jared.

We all but threw them on. I was just so happy to finally see it. Then I noticed the wig and makeup were on the table in front of the mirror. And I just couldn't help myself.

Pretty soon, Misto had come to life.

I was standing in front of the mirror, looking at my reflection. It was entirely different from Donatello Hamato. My face and neck were almost entirely white, with black to outline my facial features, and gray on my temples and the sides of my neck. The wig was almost entirely black, with white tips on the ears, which were on top of my head. My costume was almost entirely black, but my chest was white, with a black marking that looked like a bowtie. I had two white leg warmers, one white arm warmer, and one black armwarmer. Finally, I tied the black and white tail around my waist, and I was finished.

Oh boy. Everyone was about to get a surprise. I practically pranced down the stairs, skipped past everyone backstage, and glided onto the set.

I then began practicing a little. Well, a little is an understatement. I was jumping around, twirling and leaping, stretching my limbs every which way, and I even did another split. This time, it didn't hurt. I spun around, did a few flips and cartwheels for the fun of it, stopped and kicked high over my head, and began spinning. I lifted one leg until it was completely out to my side, around the same height as my waist. I began twirling faster...and faster...and faster…..until I was pretty much a blur.

I had just perfected The Conjuring Turn.

A bunch of people began whistling and clapping a little. I couldn't see everybody, because everything was moving around me so fast, but I grinned, and knew that under the makeup, a blush had crept onto my cheeks. But I didn't mind one bit. I dug one heel into the ground to stop myself, quickly slid into another split, threw my arms up over my head, and turned my head to face the audience.

Sensei and April were both in the orchestra, jaws wide open and eyes bugging out. They had been left speechless. Most likely at both my appearance and performance. Then, I realized something. I had forgotten to tell Sensei that I was Mistoffelees. Well, this was even better than the way I was gonna tell him. I got up, jumped off the stage into one of the aisles, ran down to their row, and carefully walked to their seats. "How did I do?" I asked. April squealed and bounced from her seat. She knocked the wind out of me with her hug. "That was amazing!" she shouted. She pulled away and looked me over. "You **look** amazing!" she said. We leaned in and kissed, a long kiss.

Suddenly, another realization washed over me like a wave. It was a lot like what happened with my friends earlier, but much stronger this time. I wouldn't even be here without April. She was the one who convinced me to do this. I would still be down in my secret place, dancing for no one, if it hadn't been for her. I loved her for this. I loved her so much. I hadn't even thanked her for that. And suddenly, I realized just how much I loved her….. Maybe later I would ask Sean where I could find a good jeweler.

Master Splinter was next. "You do look incredible." he said. "Mistoffelees was always Tang Shen's favorite character." he said with pride. He then got a faraway look in his eyes. "I couldn't help but notice that opening night was her birthday." Oh, right! Opening night was January 30th, Tang Shen's birthday. "That's right." I said. "And when are the previews beginning?" asked Master Splinter. "January 7th." I said.

Oh my gosh. I hadn't even realized…..

January 7th.

Today was January 2nd.

Our first performance was in five days…..

 **A/N.  
OH MY GOSH! THIS BY FAR IS MY FAVORITE CHAPTER!**

 **Thank you everyone so much for reading this one. I've worked very hard on it, and had so much fun writing it. This was also a chapter I had really been waiting to give out, and it hints at a ton of things coming you're way. Like...wait? Did Donnie say he was gonna ask where to find a jeweler? Now what on earth could that mean? Well, we're just gonna have to wait and find out! And Master Splinter knows! Yay! Next chapter, performances begin! Well, preview performances anyway. Until then, once you're done, leave a review, favorite, follow, and as always…**

 **Stay tuned! ;)**


	7. Sparkled n' Ready

**A/N.  
Hi...again!**

 **Welcome one and all to the next glamorous chapter of 'More Than Just Me!' This by far is one of my favorite stories that I have ever written, period. Thank you all so much for the support!**

 **This chapter is another one of my favorites…..THE FIRST PERFORMANCE! Well, the first preview performance. Preview performances are performances that Broadway shows do before opening night, to specific audiences, just to give them a hint about what the show's gonna have, and what to expect for opening night. It also gives people working on the show a opportunity to make any last minute changes before opening night. It's pretty cool. And even though it's not opening night, it's basically the first performance, so everyone gets excited for that too. Also, sorry if Leo is acting like a bit of a jerk in this chapter. Poor Donnie!**

 **Now, that's all I have to say! Once you're done, leave a review, favorite, follow, and as always…**

 **Enjoy!**

 **Chapter Seven: Sparkled n' Ready.  
** _(Donnie's POV).  
_ Five days rushed away fast.

That was the first thing I thought this morning, the morning of truth. Finally, CATS on Broadway will open a second time, and we'll see if this one's another smash hit success, just like it was in the 80s.

All I could do was lie in bed, my mind going ten times as fast as normal with worry. So much worry. The show was at 8:00 p.m. tonight. It was only 7:00 a.m. I shouldn't have been worried!

Reluctantly, I managed to drag myself out of bed and into the living room. April was out there waiting. She immediately hurried over to where I was standing and threw her arms around me. We didn't say anything. We didn't need to. All we could do was hold each other, slightly rocking back and forth, with April silently telling me that everything was okay, and that I was gonna do great tonight.

"You okay, D?" we suddenly heard behind us. April and I both jumped and leapt apart to see Raph. He was watching us...closely...too closely….. "We're fine, Raph." I said simply. "We're okay. I'm just on edge this morning, and to be honest, not in the best mood, so is it okay if I can have a little space today?"

Raph shrugged. "Whatever you say, Donnie." He then turned to walk into the kitchen, and said to us, "You two should come have breakfast before it all gets cold. Plus, Leo wanted you to actually **have** breakfast with us today."

Oh dear. Leo's noticed. Normally on the way to rehearsal, I would stop in the kitchen and get something small to eat, then I would leave for rehearsals. They normally lasted from noon to midnight. Leo wasn't too happy about 'Rockwell' needing me for that long. He even called to complain once, but luckily, Rockwell wouldn't budge. He was firmly keeping the secret. Lucky I didn't need to be there until seven at night this time. Still, Leo might wonder why I'm gonna come home so tired tonight.

When I went in, Leo looked up. "Well look who decided to join us today?" he said. I couldn't help but blush. This was embarrassing. And Leo knew it. He apparently also knew that he'd pretty much scored a victory, and waved us over to sit down. April and I went to sit by Master Splinter. Sensei smiled with pride when I sat down. I grinned. I was relieved that he agreed to keep the secret, for my sake.

Everything went on as it normally should. We talked about normal things. Patrol, training, which cartoon was better. To think, sometime in the future, we could be talking about Broadway, and my career, and other crazy things that I never thought possible. I'm still crazy nervous about what they'll say when they do find out. I promised April and Sensei that they will know eventually. I plan to tell them on opening night. Well, I won't really tell them. I'll show them. They'll be able to piece everything together after that. Still, I'll be taking them into the world I never wanted them to find. The world I never wanted them to find me _in_. Nothing would ever be normal for them again after that.

Then, Sensei stood up. "My sons, and daughter." he said. We all looked up. "In honor of Tang Shen's birthday, which will be on the thirtieth, you will be taking off patrol that night." My eyes widened. That was actually pretty smart! I'll have to remember to thank Sensei later. Immediately, Raph, Mikey, and Casey all shouted "Yes!", and April and I beamed at each other, considering that we knew something they didn't. Leo and Miwa on the other hand, didn't look so happy. "But Sensei, Tiger Claw's still out there! He could cause trouble, or worse!" Leo protested. "Yeah, he broke into a Broadway theater five days ago! It was on the news! He might do it again!" Miwa added.

Well, I had just been taking a drink of water, and when I heard this, I nearly choked. I sat back in my chair coughing, while everyone else just looked at me with surprise. "I...I drank it too fast." I managed to breath out after a few seconds. Before anyone else could notice, I sent a look to April. I was panicked, and she could tell. "Well, at the very least, no one was hurt." said April. "But he still got away." Miwa argued. "Guys, the police are looking for him, so we can just leave it to them." I said, hoping that all this talk about the other day would stop.

"Donatello has a point." said Master Splinter. "Besides, the reason we are taking the night off, is because of his project." That was true, so I nodded and resumed eating. Until Mikey uttered some bone-chilling words.

"Does this have anything to do with why you and your _friends_ tried to attack Tiger Claw on you're own?"

Oh my gosh. I was so convinced that he suddenly knew, that I literally gasped, pretty much blowing my cover. Leo, Raph, Casey, and Miwa were all gaping at me, shocked, while Mikey simple said "I can't keep that a secret anymore." and stared down at his breakfast. April and Splinter were glaring at Mikey with such force, he began tearing up. He knew they were looking at him. But that wasn't what I was focused on. Not in a million years.

Suddenly, my breathing became heavy, louder, and faster by the second, and the room began to spin. I think I was having another panic attack! I shot out of my seat just as Leo launched himself at me, and I turned around to run. "Oh no you don't!" Leo screamed at me, but I was out of the kitchen by then. I blindly stumbled out into the living room, and made a dash for the dojo. Everyone was coming after me, I knew it, but at this point, I didn't even care. Once in there, I thought they had missed me going in, but Leo had followed.

Seconds later, Leo was shaking me and screaming at me so much that I felt like he was literally rattling my brain. "HOW COULD YOU DO THAT DONNIE?! THAT IS BY FAR THE WORST THING YOU COULD POSSIBLY DO! YOU COULD HAVE BLOWN OUR COVER! SOMEONE COULD KNOW OUR SECRET BY NOW! HOW COULD YOU?!" He stopped shaking me at least, but now there was no way to avoid his gaze, filled with fury. "Maybe I can't trust you anymore if you're doing that! Maybe I shouldn't let you go up to the surface again until I know I can trust you!"

Something snapped inside me. I didn't know what, but suddenly, I was filled with the same level of fury. It was very rare that this happened, but it did, and suddenly, I was worse than Raph. I don't even think I knew what I was doing, but I did it anyways. And Leo realized he had gone too far a split second too late. I slapped his hand away, pushed him off with a surprising amount of strength, and shouted at the top of my lungs, "GET OFF OF ME!"

Leo looked shocked. Everyone looked shocked. Including me. But I couldn't have stopped myself. There was no way Leo was keeping me from going, especially tonight. This was all too much for me. I couldn't handle it. And I could help what happened next.

"Maybe I would tell you these things if I knew you guys would respect me!" I shouted back at them. Mikey gasped, and the tears began spilling over his eyelids. I had hit a mark, so I kept going. "Crazy, weird, stupid! That's what you guys would call me either way, right?! That's all you do to me! Very stereotypical if you ask me! And all you come to me for is help fixing stuff, you're stuff! And this is how you thank me for keeping that up?! That's not even what I want to do anymore!"

"I'm fed up with all this! What are you saying?!" shouted Raph. "I'M NOT SMART!" I shout back. "I never wanted to be a genius! I forced myself to learn all that stuff so that I wouldn't have to tell you what I've really been doing all these years!" I said, before my eyes had gone wide. There. I said it. I was no longer the genius of the family. I had just given up that title. And my family knew it. Leo's expression softened, but I still wasn't caving in. I was standing there, panting like a mad bull, while the others looked on with disbelief at what I had blurted out. "There's no project, is there?" asked Leo. I shook my head. "I trusted Rockwell to keep it from you guys."

April ran up to stand in front of me. To defend me. "We knew too! Splinter and I kept this a secret too!" shouted April. "The only reason Michelangelo didn't tell you all was because he knew you were going to be hard on Donatello." said Splinter. "And to my disappointment, it looks like he was right!" He looked right at Leo. "I should have expected more from you, my son."

He had hit Leo's weak spot. One of Leo's greatest fears, is letting his family down, especially Sensei. Leo hung his head in utter shame, looking ready to cry himself, and he muttered "Donnie...what have you done?"

I couldn't believe it. He blamed me! I was right. I had been right all along. They wouldn't understand me, and they had belittled me. They don't even have to know about it, they still did it anyways! They were never going to trust me again after this. And Leo might never let me leave the lair. What was going to happen after tonight if he did that? I might have to...give up on the show.

That was too much for me to even process. I couldn't help myself. I fell to my knees, and burst out crying. April and Master Splinter ran over to comfort me, and that felt good, but that had taken the others by surprise. I hadn't cried in front of my brothers since I was _tiny_ , and never in front of my sister or Casey. If they had been expecting any reaction out of me, any at all...this definitely wasn't what they had in mind.

April shot a look at everyone else. "You should all be ashamed of yourselves!" she snapped. "You all push him to the edge without even thinking to let him give a decent answer before you went on accusing him of all those terrible things, and that's what caused all this! You would be dumbfounded if you even knew the slightest bit of what he can really do! And he's almost ready to showing you on the thirtieth! And you still do what he never wanted you to do, for fifteen years now, without even considering how he feels! She stood up, walked up to Leo (who's so shocked that he can't even talk), and said, "If you're not even gonna let him do this, then he's staying with **me** until he's ready to see you guys again!"

Everyone gasped, including me. I hadn't thought she would go that far to defend me. She looked at Master Splinter pleadingly, as if to ask him about this. I also joined her, because if I was gonna do CATS, this was my best choice. It pained me greatly to do that to the rest of my family, but I had to do this. Splinter was heartbroken that it had come to this as well. But he closed his eyes, sighed, and said; "Donatello, you can stay with April until the thirtieth. Then you may come back. Maybe Leonardo will be less disrespectful after _he_ is stuck down here until the thirtieth."

"WHAT?!" Leo shrieked. But one look from Sensei made his shrink back a little. "Okay, Sensei." he looked at me. "I don't know what you're up to Donnie, but I'm not gonna stop being angry at you for putting us at risk." He then stalked out of the room, with everyone else following.

Over the next hour, I gathered all the belongings I needed, sobbing the whole time. I could hear Mikey getting his own chastisement from Leo, and Mikey was crying too. I wanted to just start yelling at Leo all over again. Here he was, venting his anger out onto a new target, just because of some simple secrets that I didn't want going out into the open. Eventually, I was ready to leave. April told me that Sensei would stop by later to check on me, and her dad knew that I was staying with them until the end of the month. He wasn't exactly thrilled, but said it was okay.

No sooner than I had finished, we were there. I would be in the guest room for the time being. But I didn't mind. I had stopped crying (THANK GOSH!), but now I was just sitting there, numb as can be, deathly quiet, and just not doing anything in general, besides resting my head on April's shoulder. She had her arms wrapped tightly around me, and she wasn't saying much either. We just sat like that for a long time.

These were the times that I was utterly thankful to have the love of my life with me. Of course, growing up underground got me thinking I would never find anybody, and I would always be alone. When my mind wasn't on dancing, I was thinking about what would happen if I really found a girl who loved me for who I was, and not care about what I looked like on the outside. So when I first found April, I did instantly know that she was the most gorgeous person I had ever seen, no doubt. However...I didn't think she would love me back. So months later, when April told me, after months of me wishing, that she loved me back, I realized that basically, my life was complete with her. I had everything I needed. And that's how it's been for the past five years. It calms me now to know that sometime in the next year, I would be vowing to always be with her. How will I do that? Well...you'll just have to wait and see.

Suddenly, we heard a knock on the door. I jumped up, and ran off into another room while April shouted; "One moment please!" I waited for a few seconds, before April shouted again, this time; "Donnie, come out here!" I slowly walked back out into the living room, suddenly nervous. What was going on? But when I got out there, I began to tear up again. Only this time, for once, I was happy.

Ethel, Anita, Jared, Charity, Joss, Sean, and Master Splinter were all standing in the doorway, Ethel holding a giant plate of cookies. "Splinter told us what happened." Charity said as she walked over and hugged me. Ethel put down her plate (which she looked like she could barely hold anyways) and also ran over. "We're so sorry that happened!" she said. "I knew that's not how you wanted things to go!"

"It's alright, Ethel." I said. "What happened, happened, and I'll try to get through this, no matter how many times my siblings say otherwise." Sean walked up to Sensei. "His brothers still don't know about him knowing how to dance, right? So maybe on opening night, they'll understand once they see the show?" he asked. Splinter sighed. "After the behavior they exhibited earlier, I am worried for how they will react when they see Donatello on that stage. But I will try and explain it to them as much as possible, and there is a chance they will re-think about how they reacted."

He then turned to me. "How are you doing Donatello? Are you alright?" he asked. I nodded. "I'm doing much better now Sensei." I said happily. "He'll be okay here." said April. Sensei nodded, said he had to get back to the lair, and left a few minutes later. We all sat down to discuss tonight. "So, is everybody ready for tonight?" Jared asked. "Well, we've gone through the show more than fourteen times this week, so that's prepared us pretty good." Anita pointed out through the cookie in her mouth. "Guys, we have to remember one thing though; this is Broadway, so be ready for anything."

We spent all morning preparing ourselves for tonight. April let us practice in her apartment, which was really fortunate, because we could get in some time to get ready. We were jumping, crawling, doing everything you can imagine. At one point, April's dad did come home and freaked out a bit when he saw how crowded his living room was, but he calmed down when April told him that they were in the show with me. After that little fiasco, he also said that he was glad that I had gotten into the show. Well, at least he was okay with me for now. I just hoped he didn't freak out after opening night.

The morning, then afternoon, seemed to fly by, and pretty soon, we were an hour away from showtime. Ethel was skipping her way down the street, while we ran to keep up. Everyone was so giddy and excited, and we were laughing and chatting happily, despite everyone staring. When we got to the theater, there was already a line of people with tickets. A few of them recognized us and began freaking out, excited and hoping for an autograph or something. Another employe was holding open the doors to the performer's entrance. Everyone was bustling around, and some people looked like they were beyond nervous. The girls were rushed away into their dressing rooms, and Sean hurried downstairs to his, so that left Jared and I to run up the stairs to our own dressing room.

Once there, we went into action. The makeup brushes flew across our faces with streaks of black and white for me, and brown and gold for Jared. The wigs, and the painted, almost invisible mics, were secured onto our heads. The costumes came off the hangers, and we were almost ready. Someone came up to make sure every button, zipper, strap, you name it, was secure and fastened. And just like that, we were ready!

And that meant more filming for us.

"Okay ." said Jared, holding up the camera so it catches both of us. "This is it. This is the first preview. After everything we've gone through, we're finally ready to open the doors of the Palace Theater and show you all what we've been doing! Right, Donnie? Are you excited?"

Was I excited? That shouldn't have been a question! "Heck, yeah!" I said, grabbing the camera and slightly positioning it to face me more. "I'm ecstatic right now!" I said. Jared let me take the camera, and I focused it out the window, down onto the entrance. There were more people there, waiting anxiously for the doors to open, and to see the wonder that lay inside. I grinned when I saw the happy looks on their faces. "They all look so excited to be here." I said. "That's a great thing." said Jared. "They came here to enjoy the show, and they came here to enjoy us."

The show. Us. Me. I felt unspeakable honor. Honor for making all the theater-goers happy, and being part of this incredible cast, who's become more than family to me since October. I wanted nothing more than to rock that stage tonight. To help this production blow everything else before it right out of the water. To send those people leaping to their feet and screaming in joy. Most of all, I wanted to see everyone having a good time. That was my one goal. It was even more important than my dancing dream. And that was okay.

Still, my goal was a pretty important to me. And it was fragile. I had to be careful with it, keeping everything in balance. It wasn't gonna be for much longer. I just had to wait a little more, until the thirtieth, and then I wouldn't have to hide anything. No more secret keeping. After fifteen years of bottling it all up inside me. These thoughts lead me to think about what happened this morning. I've been trying to avoid it all day, because I knew it would slow me down, but I couldn't help it. What Leo said, about me nearly putting them all in danger...was it true? Would I have really put anyone in unintentional harm? And what would Leo say if he knew already that I have accidentally revealed myself, and all of them, to people I knew I could trust?

Oh, they wouldn't believe that my friends were trustworthy anyways. They would scoff, and jeer at them, and...I would never see my friends again. Something told me, deep in my gut, that they might jeer and scoff at me too.

An image was rapidly beginning to form in my mind, and it wasn't pretty. It was my brothers, looking at me strangely. Then, Leo began to laugh. I gritted my teeth. "Stop it." I muttered. Raph joined Leo in the laughing. They were tripping over themselves, tears coming from their eyes, pointing at me as if I were an ugly little bug, grossing them out with just being in their sights. "Stop it!" I said, more serious this time. I looked at Mikey. "Mikey?..." I asked, praying to anyone that my little brother wouldn't follow our older brother's examples. But to my horror, his mouth was also starting to curl into an amused grin, and a chuckle was beginning to escape his throat.

"NO! STOP!" I shouted. This wasn't happening! This couldn't be real! Was it?! I couldn't even tell anymore!

"Did you see how pathetic that was?!" asked Raph, mockingly. "After all that, he only manages to show us something stupid?!" Mikey was laughing so hard he could barely breath. "Such a waste of fifteen years! The biggest screw up someone could take in life, in my opinion!" he managed to get out. "No, no, no! Please, don't! This isn't you, you know that! You would never say that to anyone, especially to me!" I begged. I felt hot, steaming tears begin to form in my eyes, which I furiously attempted to wipe away. "Aww, is the little mess up getting upset?" asked Raph and Mikey at the same time, taunting me in the form of my worst nightmare. Then it was Leo's turn. And his stung my very core.

"Go on, little brother. Show the world what a failure you are."

"NO!" I shrieked. I tried to run forwards, to push past them and run for all eternity, but I tripped. They were closing in, rushing towards me, saying "Failure, failure, FAILURE!", over and over again. I rubbed the tears out of my eyes as fast as I could, and shouted "HELP!"

The next second, Jared was shaking me awake asking if I could hear him. I was aware that I was breathing fast and heavily, and shaking like mad. I was lying on the floor of the dressing room, huddled up, eyes bugging out wildly. "Are you okay, Donnie? You look like you've just seen a ghost!" said Jared, trying to help me up. "I...I...I think I'm okay…" I said slowly. I suddenly gasped, remembering something. "How long have I been out?!" I asked Jared. As if on cue, an announcement came on to the loudspeaker. "Ladies and gentlemen, your attention please. There has been a medical concern backstage. Everyone is okay, but we're gonna have to delay tonight's performance by twenty minutes. We are not required to reveal any more personal information about who it was, but we will give them a few minutes to rest. Thank you for your extensive patience, and we will begin this evening's performance as soon as possible."

I felt sick. I'm pretty sure I made that clear when I stumbled backwards into the chair and grabbed onto both sides of my head with my hands. Everyone gasped and rushed over. Anita, who had come in during the announcement, rushed over and put her hand on my dried-makeup smothered forehead. "Okay, breathe slowly. Man, you're gonna really make yourself sick with all this stress. Is it really that bad?" she asked. I nodded. "Did I have another panic attack?" I asked as Charity ran in with a glass of water. I gulped it down in one drink as Jared said, "Well, no. You were awake when I came in, just talking to no one, and shaking around on the floor. It looked more like you were hallucinating."

I groaned. "Great." Great was right. Hallucinating?! That's the last thing I needed, especially tonight! What was gonna hit to me next, a coma?! This was too much. I didn't think I could handle much more of this.

"I'm so sorry guys. It's just my fear of my family, and the stress of keeping so many secrets from so many people. It's like my brain is at war with itself, and there's no ceasefire, ever. I've been tearing myself apart trying to get here, where I am tonight. And now I've gone and upset everyone by delaying the show. I'll try to do something to make it up to you, I promise. I'm just...so sorry."

Jared, Anita, and Charity looked at each other in sadness, before Anita leaned down to me. "You have nothing to be sorry about. A cast member's well-being comes before a performance. Back when I was in high school, in my junior year, we had to delay a showing of Hairspray for two hours because one boy in the ensemble got appendicitis. So that goes to show that what I'm saying is true, no matter how small it may be. This wasn't your fault, and it never will be."

Charity also came over. "Donnie, listen, after everything that you've done for us...you should be beyond proud of yourself. I know, and everyone else knows. When they come on opening night, they're coming to love you, and coming to cheer you on. It doesn't matter what secrets you've kept, or for how long. You're gonna bring down that audience. But first, we've gotta concur this one. And we'll do it together. All of us. You're gonna prove your family wrong. You're gonna show them, that you're...you're…"

The words came to me. I held up my hand, and she stopped talking. "You're right." I said. I stood, walked over to the mirror, touched it, and said while staring at my disguised reflection, "I'm more than just me. And I will show them that, if it's the last thing I do."

 _(Later…..)  
_ The time flew by so fast.

Before I knew it, I was getting ready for my number, in Act Two. This was where I made the costume change.

The wig and makeup were exactly the same, but I had switched them out with an actual tuxedo, but not an ordinary one. Because sewn into mine, was more than a hundred tiny, computer-controlled, color-changing LED light bulbs. And beyond that, there were sparkles everywhere. I looked like walking glitter.

As I made my way backstage again, a few people began to get excited. They gave me thumbs up, and waved, and got all giddy in general. "Good luck!" one girl said to me. "Thank you!" I whispered back. She giggled excitedly. When I was out of earshot, so did I. I just couldn't believe it! I was about to go on for the first time in Misto's number, as Mistoffelees, in CATS for crying out loud! This was huge for me!

The stagehands were waiting backstage with the rope. "Ready, Donnie?" asked one of them. I nodded. "Ready as I'll ever be." They helped me onto the rope, fastened me in, and soon enough, I was being lifted into the ceiling. The stage looked beautiful from where I was. The only problem, was that it was entirely dark. In the story, the Junkyard had just gotten attacked by the musical's villain, Macavity. He kidnapped their leader, Old Deuteronomy, terrorized the Junkyard, attempted to kidnap another character, Demeter, and to top it all off, short-circuited the lights. So the stage was entirely black. But no, there was Jared. And my number was about to begin.

" _You ought to ask, Magical, Mr. Mistoffelees. The original, conjuring cat. There can be no doubt, about that."_ said Jared. A few girls in the audience shrieked in excitement. I felt a blush sneak up onto my face, and then spill out under the makeup onto my cheeks. " _Please, listen to me and don't scoff. All his inventions, are off his own bat."_ Jared continued. The drums began to rumble in the orchestra, and Jared's spotlight brightened. " _There's no such cat, in the metropolis! He holds all the Pitan monopolies, for performing surprising illusions. And creating eccentric, confusions. The greatest magicians, have something to learn! From Mr. Mistoffelees Conjuring Turn!..."_

I was so proud when the audience began clapping along.

" _And we all, say…_

 _Oh, well, I never! Was there ever, a cat so clever as Magical Mr. Mistoffelees?"_

 _He's quiet, he's small, he black. From his ears, to the tip of his tail! He can creep through the tiniest crack! He can walk on the narrowest rail! He can pick any card from the pack! He's equally cunning with dice! He's always deceiving, you, into believing he was only hunting for mice! He can play any trick with a cork! Or a spoon and a bit of fish paste! If you look for a knife or a fork, and you think it is merely misplaced! You've seen it one moment, but then, IT IS GONE! But you'll find it next week, laying out on the lawn!... And we all say..."_

The rope was lowering to the stage. This was it. When I came into view, the audience began screaming in excitement. I smiled the widest of smiles as the orchestra rocked on, and the lyrics came pouring out of the cast's mouths. " _Oh, well, I never! Was there ever, a cat so clever as Magical Mr. Mistoffelees?!"_

I was on-stage now. In the dark, with the LED lights shining at their brightest, I threw up my arms and shouted, " _PRESTO!"_ Instantly, the lights shot on, many of the spotlights on me. More applause, and more singing. " _Oh, well, I never! Was there ever, a cat so clever as Magical Mr. Mistoffelees?!"_ I was beginning to become hypnotized by the music as I fluttered and leapt around the stage. I began singing as well. " _My manner is vague and aloof! And you would think there was nobody shier! But my voice has been heard on the roof! While I was curled up by the fire!"_ Jared and I began dancing at the same time now, moving at the same time. " _And he's sometimes been heard by the fire,"_ continued Jared. " _While I was about on the roof!"_ I said. " _At least we all heard, that somebody purred,"_ Jared carried on. " _Which is incontestable proof!"_ I finished. " _Of his singular magical powers! And I've known the family to call! Him in from the garden for hours,"_ said Jared as I went towards the back of the stage. " _While I was asleep in the hall!"_ I called back.

Another cast member, Hercules, had rolled an enormous hat out on stage. Inside it was an even bigger red blanket that stretched out to about the width of the stage. Hercules and I each grabbed a corner of the blanket, and ran to the front of the stage. It flowed out behind us, covering the entire stage. " _And not long ago, this_ _ **phenomenal**_ _cat!"_ started Jared as we ran back again. " _Produced seven kittens right out of a hat!"_ everyone finished. When the blanket was torn away, Ethel, Anita, Raymond, Carter, Isabella, Freddie, and Max were standing there, waving at the audience. Jared was a few feet away from them. I was too, holding out my arms as if to say, "Impressive, right?"

" _And we all say,"_

" _Oh, well! I never! Was there ever, a cat so clever as Magical Mr. Mistoffelees?"_ the cast sang as we began moving around again. I was having the time of my life, jumping around and spinning. Then the main dance began. This was my moment, and there was no wasting it tonight.

I dove right into the routine, spinning and moving around, bending my limbs at incredible angles, and balancing myself while dancing around. Joss ran up to me. This trick was entirely new to the show. I waved my arms, and more tiny, invisible LED lights on her stomach, just like mine, lite up in a bright pink. We danced at the same time, glowing like neon lights. The lights on both of us turned to a flurry of colors. Her's turned off but mine stayed like that. When she passed me, she took my hand and spun me around. I didn't stop spinning. I went fast, then faster, and pretty soon, I was in the Conjuring Turn all over again. The audience was going crazy! I was laughing, and I felt like I was on top of the world. This was incredible!

We went on with the dance for at least the next two or three minutes. The rest of the cast joined in at one point. I was dancing right in the middle of the stage, while everyone else was on either side of me. When the lights went out I knew what to do. Two hidden LED lights, smaller than the rest, and none color changing, were sewn into the very tips of the pointer fingers of the black and white gloves I had on. I pretended I was reaching down to pick something up off the ground, and as I came up again, arm outstretched, one of the lights flickered on. I then made believe that I was balancing the light on my fingers. I began dancing again, while passing the light from hand to hand. This illusion was created by allowing one light to turn off, and then the other light on the other glove turning on. The rest of the cast rushed out from backstage, holding little LED lights of their own. One by one, they gathered together in the very center of the stage, holding out their arms, and holding the lights in the middle. Their faces were all illuminated in white light, shining and beaming like diamonds. What a gorgeous sight to behold. I rushed over, holding out my own hand. There was a flash of light, we all broke away, and standing right where our hands had been, was Old Deuteronomy. Misto had just rescued him.

I was facing the audience, and definitely didn't expect them all to burst out in cheers and clapping (and a bit of whistling). My eyes went wide, and I think my mouth might have even been open a little. But I was happy. Relieved, even. When Jared began singing, I knew he was proud. " _And we all say...Oh, well. I never. Was there ever...a cat so clever...as Magical Mr. Mistoffelees?"_ I turned around to face the rest fo the cast. They were all waiting for me. And they all looked so proud of me. My smile felt miles wide. Not just because of what I had just done. You see, I think Old Deuteronomy might possibly be Misto's grandfather. Due to the fact that Misto throws himself into his arms. And that's just what I did next.

Uproarious applause. I was laughing and couldn't see straight. Everyone began singing again, with even more enthusiasm than before. Ethel was next to bomb me with a crushing hug. Then came Anita, then Sean, then Joss (that one was tight), and then Charity. Finally, Jared caved in and came over as well, still singing. Once that was over with, I waved my arms again, and every light strung up on the stage, and in the audience, went on in a flash. Pam, Woody, Sean, Joss, Isabella and Carter went rushing into the audience clapping their hands to the music. Pretty soon, the audience caught on. I didn't pay attention to any of that thought. All I paid attention to was my dancing. I was going crazy, freestyling it. The world ceased to exist suddenly. And I didn't even care.

Jared stepped into the spotlight again, and I stopped, my back to the audience. " _Ladies and gentlemen...I give you the Magical!..."_ I twirled, thrust my hand out to the side, and a burst of smoke came shooting up from the stage floor with a loud " _POP!"_ A few whistles from the audience. " _The marvelous!..._ " Another " _POP!"_ and another cloud of smoke. " _Mr. Mistoffelees!"_ Jared shouted the last lines. I few more spins, the last few notes of the song played, and I stood in the spotlight, just staring and smiling.

Let's just say, I did a double take when the applause came barreling onto us so loud that we jumped.

The last three songs went by in a blur. Pretty soon, I was watching backstage as everyone took their bows. Anita was currently leaping on stage. The audience screamed for her. She had been amazing tonight. Next was Ian, Elliot, and Sandra. Lydia got an incredible amount of applause. Fern Renee and Betty came on, then Sean. I was next. Sean turned to where I was standing backstage, and held out his arm for me to run out. Which I did. We ended up jumping again because we didn't expect it to be so loud. Sean and I were just laughing and cheering. A few more people left to bow, and we went backstage.

"Come on guys!" said Jared. He started running upstairs to our dressing room. We all stumbled up the stairs after him, laughing and cheering. However, the celebration didn't start until we were in the room. We all screamed and hollered with joy that we had managed to get through the first preview. Everyone was jumping around and hugging on another. It got a little chaotic, but we didn't care one bit. We were all too busy with our own bliss.

After tons of congratulations, the girls and Sean left so that Jared and I could scrub the makeup off our faces, put the wigs away, and hang up the costumes for tomorrow night. One we had no traces of feline left on us, we went downstairs, met the others, each grabbed a pen, and braced ourselves. Anita opened the stage door, and I could hear everyone outside going wild. Outside the stage door, they set up a few metal gates that a small portion of the audience who didn't have to leave right away could stand in front of and get their Playbills signed by the cast. We were expecting some pretty die-hard CATS fans to be standing there, and maybe some people who've seen the Youtube show on . Joss went next, and then Ethel and I prepared mentally.

Ethel stepped out first, and then me. We were instantly met with loads of over-excited fangirls. I could barely believe how many there were (and how **loud** they were)! "It's like they think I'm a celebrity!" I whispered to Charity, who had come out behind me. "Technically, after tonight, you **are** a celebrity. In the Broadway world anyways." she said. My eyes widened. I hadn't thought if it that way.

The next minute or two, I spent signing Playbills and a few posters that some people purchased. Everyone gave me serious congratulations on my debut, complimented me on my dancing, asked how on earth was I able to dance like that (and got pretty impressed when I said I was self-taught), and so on. A bunch of girls (most of them teenagers) told me I was their favorite cast member, and Misto was their favorite character. I was having the time of my life. But the night wasn't completely perfect until after I finally signed the last Playbill and I started to walk down the sidewalk, only to see Master Splinter (with a watch) standing there. I rushed to him and thrust my arms around him. "Sensei, it was incredible." I heard myself breathe, wonderstruck. "I bet it was." he said. "Bye, Donnie! See you tomorrow!" shouted Anita. I waved at my friends as Sensei and I walked into Times Square and began to cross it.

"Did they appalude you a lot?" asked Sensei. "Tremendously. I felt alive out there. Like, really alive." I said. I stretched myself out. I hadn't noticed how tired I was. "But now I think I have to get some sleep. It's gonna be a long road to opening night." I said. Sensei laughed. "I bet so, my son. By the way, I payed a visit to Dr. Rockwell, and he said he would start on the retro-mutagen for miss Charity's sister." My eyes lite up. "Really?" I asked. He nodded.

We finally arrived at April's apartment and he left. April went to me as soon as I came through the door. "How did it go?!" she asked.

I grinned. "I owned that stage."

 **A/N.  
YES! IT'S UP! I finally got this up! I've been waiting for this!**

 **This was one of my favorite chapters so far. But I had a really tough time writing the fight and hallucination scenes. I just didn't want to put poor Donnie through that! But alas, there has to be a little bit of drama. Well, not a little bit for Donnie. Sadly, right now he's an exception to those rules. And it's not over for him yet. It's gonna be a rough ride into opening night. Next chapter, there's a reunion with two sisters, another fight between the remaining three brothers, and the realization that a shocking secret has gone into the open. What on earth is gonna happen? Well, that's all for next time. I hope you enjoyed this chapter of More Than Just Me, and once you're done, leave a review, favorite, follow, and as always…**

 **Stay Tuned! ;)**


	8. Shades of Hope

**Very Important A/N.  
On December 30th, 2017, the legendary musical CATS closed for a second time on Broadway at the Neil Simon Theater. I am mourning this action pretty bad, because even though I've only really known it for a couple of years, I love it with all my heart. To everyone involved with the revival, fantastic job. This chapter is dedicated to all of you…**

 **Well, there's not much else to say. On a positive note, I hope you like this chapter of the story, and once you're done, leave a review, favorite, follow, and as always…**

 **Enjoy!**

 **Chapter 8: The Shades of Hope.  
** _(Donnie's POV).  
_ The next week, performances went off without any problems.

I've been having the experience of a lifetime, each day bringing another batch of happiness when I set foot on stage the first time in the opening number. Many people love my performances. Lydia was right. According to everyone else, I had been the best choice to play Mistoffelees. Drinking in the amount of love from the fans of the show, plus the support from my friends, and Sensei, and especially April, my life was taking a serious turn for the better.

Many people waiting outside the door after a show, or in the audience, even random people on the street who recognize me, are saying I've shown them the best dancing they've ever seen. Each time, I'm more surprised than before at how much I amaze them. I'm honored, obviously, but this was starting to become a regular thing. I didn't mind, because I was excited that so many people were impressed. Once at the stage door, I overheard someone saying that people who were seeing the previews had begun posting videos in Youtube about their own review on the show, and I had been a highlight in every single one of them. I was all they could talk about for a few straight minutes.

All I could think was how flattering this all was.

Wow, didn't think I would ever say that…

Anyways, the anxiety I had been experiencing had also cooled down too, but didn't begin to boil up again until at least twelve days into the previews.

That's when everything I had built up came crashing down in one moment.

April and I were alone in her and her dad's apartment. She was turning on the T.V. to check up on the news, and I was practicing. Nothing too complex, just stretching out my limbs after waking up all stiff. The news had all the stuff that it normally did...at first. Then, they moved onto the stories of that morning and the first one made us both gasp in horror.

"Yes, we've just gotten reports this morning that someone in the cast of the CATS revival is actually a mutant! We tried to get in contact with the Palace Theater staff but they have no comment on the story. The Palace Theater has already had a few rough weeks as it is. Five days before the previews began, a mutant tiger with a jetpack was spotted taking off outside. The father of cast member Jocelyn Jarrs, fifty-three year old veteran Wendell Jarrs, had parked his tank outside the theater, and when the tiger took off, he tried to take a shot at him, but missed. Neither Jocelyn nor her father have gotten into trouble for the incident, much to a lot of people's surprise. We believe that the tiger had gone there to intentionally bring harm to one or more of the cast and crew members. Anyways, many strange things are going down at this particular theater. But the staff insist that they have everything under control despite much controversy. As for the mutant cast member, the staff refused to say who it was, due to privacy. That's all we know so far."

"HOW?!" I shrieked. "HOW DID THEY FIND OUT?!" April frowned. "Somebody would have had to tell the news about this, anonymously. It had to be someone who we told! Maybe someone from the day Tiger Claw attacked, someone who we brought to defend the theater." I didn't want to think about it. Could someone have betrayed us? I desperately hoped it wasn't someone I was close to. If it was one of my friends...if one of them betrayed us...no, that couldn't be it. I wasn't gonna believe it.

When my phone rang a few seconds later, I made a beeline for it, nearly tripping over the couch. I knew it was one of my friends. They had seen the news, too. Maybe they have a way to fix this. Sure enough, when I pick up, it's Jared. "Donnie! I'm so sorry about this! It was one of my uncles who told. You know, one of the ones in the FBI? He's never been trusted to keep a secret if he tried, and I completely forgot about him. Oh my gosh, this is the last thing you need, I'm so sorry!" I smiled. "It wasn't your fault, Jared, don't worry. Where are you right now?" I had suddenly noticed that there was tons of noise in the background. He couldn't be at the theater now, right? It was never that loud at this time of day. No one was even there at this time of day! Unless...no...come on, no! If he was where I thought he was, I was gonna lose it!

"I'm actually at the theater. It seems that everyone else saw the news and came to try and clear things up. There are reporters everywhere trying to find Joss to talk about the whole tank incident, and there are even more looking for an interview with whoever's the mutant, which means they're looking for you! Everyone else in the cast and crew have kept their mouths shut, but they're not gonna be able to for much longer. Donnie you have to get here, it's chaos. We've barricaded Joss in a dressing room downstairs, Anita was chased down the street by the press on her way here, and Sean and Ethel are trying to get here as fast as they can, but there are traffic jams and they might not get here in time. Charity and some of the other cast members like Lydia are all calling the police and news to call off the reporters, but their lines are already jammed up with people calling in to ask if it's all true! And I'm getting emails from telling me to fix this, now! You have to get down here so that we can figure out what to do! Bring April with you too, she can help!"

Crap! All that was going down?! "Jared, April and I will get down there as fast as we can, I promise." I said. "Good, see you when you get here." he said before hanging up. I turned to April. "Start up the Party Wagon. We're going down to the theater, it's madness. They're getting flooded with the press." April immediately grabbed the keys and rushed out the door. Meanwhile, I made a call. "Donatello, I already saw the news, I will meet you there," was all Master Splinter said before hanging up. I didn't even get to say anything! That was easier than I thought!

April and I jumped into the Party Wagon and rushed to the theater in mere minutes. There was a massive crowd gathering there, blocking up Times Square. April and I parked next to the theater on the other side of Times Square, the Lunt-Fontanne, and tore across the street to the theater. When the reporters saw me and April, they went crazy and started to chase us! It was a little bit like being chased by a swarm of bees. We managed to dive into the theater in time, and slammed the heavy doors as fast as we could. Jared ran up to us when we got inside. "Finally, I thought you two would never get here! We have to-GET OFF OF ME!" he shouted to the reporters inside who immediately crowded around him. "Go back outside! You're not supposed to be in here without express permission!" Grumbling, they dispersed around the lobby, waiting for someone else to come in so that they could pounce on them.

We ran upstairs as fast as we could. Crew members were going mad, screaming into their phones at whoever they had contacted trying to get the crowds outside to go away. Someone we passed said I'd better hide. Another said that the boss was on his way, whatever that meant. And yet another said that the police were coming for questioning. I felt terrible. All this was caused by me. Once again, everything had gone wrong. So wrong. Maybe, just maybe, Leo had been right.

Eventually, Jared, April, and I managed to squeeze past tons of people flooding the hallways and into the dressing room I shared with Jared. Many people in the crowds were looking directly at me. No amount of me hiding my face, and the stubborn redness that had blushed its way across my cheeks, could get the staring to stop. I wanted to cry again. It would exhaust me, considering the amount I've been doing that in the past few days, but I was dangerously close to the floodgates opening right back up. Anita was there, waiting with a worried expression. "Jared, they've postponed your show until further notice." she said. Jared didn't seem to care. He was very concerned about me. All I could do was stay silent, and try to vanish into the background while they relayed more information. "What do the officers outside want?" he asked.

"They want to know who the mutant is, and if they're dangerous." answered Anita. We've only got a few hours to tell, and if we don't spill the beans, they'll take us out by force. If that happens, no preview tonight. Or again. They might close down the show before it even opens."

No. Not now! After everything we've been through?! Would that really all be for nothing?! No. I refused to let that happen. Not after all this. I stood. "So what do they want me to do? It can be anything, anything at all, and I'll do it. There's no way we're sacrificing the show after all this trouble." Anita, Jared, and April were all staring like I had just grown an extra head (boy, I shudder at that thought). Finally, Anita spoke up. "The officers want to be let in so they can see Donnie and determine if he's dangerous, which I'm pretty sure they'll see he's not. Then they'll leave us alone, and won't reveal who it is. That is, unless Donnie decides otherwise."

"Wait, decides otherwise?!" asked April. My jaw was open. I...I could decide if I wanted the world to know! This was crazy! But...I can think about it. For now, anyways.

A little while later, Charity and Joss came upstairs. Charity had deemed it safe for Joss to be moved upstairs while Ethel and Sean, who had arrived by now, distracted the press. They followed shortly after Charity and Joss. Finally, Master Splinter arrived. He rushed in, pulled me into a tight embrace, and told me he was sorry over and over again that this was happening to me, no matter how much we tried to tell him it wasn't his fault. I suddenly thought of my siblings back and home and panicked. "Sensei, they haven't seen the news, have they?!" I asked. Sensei shook his head. "No. I took away the television until the thirtieth, which was another part of Leonardo's wouldn't see a thing." Once again, April and I found our mouths hanging wide open. That's got to have been the coolest thing Splinter's ever done for me. Maybe he still did have a trick or two up his sleeve.

Still, we had to go out and face those policemen eventually. I wanted to be ready. I wanted to be absolutely sure of it. And I wanted evidence that I was harmless. That's why I asked Jared to film the entire thing. He was astonished that I had asked such a thing of him. "We need proof that I'm not gonna hurt anyone. You're gonna want to get your camera ready." Jared immediately hurried off to get it. Suddenly, there was a tapping on the window. We all looked over to see the flash of something jumping off the windowsill and up onto the roof. I went to the window and opened it, to see a little package of something sitting there. When I saw a tag and lifted it up for me to read it better, I gasped.

 _Retro-Mutagen is finished! Will get back to you about the news when I can. Be careful, and good luck!_

 _-Dr. Rockwell._

"Charity…" I said, unwrapping the small parcel to reveal a bottle of glowing, orange, retro-mutagen. "You might want to give this to your sister later tonight." She gasped when she saw it, the threw her arms around me, tightly. I stumbled back, trying to regain my balance. "Whoa, be careful!" I said.

Once that was cleared up, it was time. "Is everyone prepared?" asked April. "Yeah, I think we're ready." I said. Ethel took the front of the group. "I'll make sure they don't hurt you." We all laughed. "Alright...here we go...one...two...THREE!"

Sean pushed the door open, and the nine occupants of the room (including me) filed down the stairs, into the backstage, then out onto the stage. Many officers had somehow made their way into the theater, and were in scattered in the orchestra, the mezzanine, and the balcony. The rest of the cast and crew had been gathered in the audience as well. Everyone looked at us. My heart was racing. April's hand was firmly gripping mine. Master Splinter was on my other side. And my friends surrounded us all. They had my back. Always. Who cares about who looks down on me?

"Jared, now." I whispered. My friends spread out around the stage, with me, April, and Sensei at the very center. Jared went off to the side, knelt down, and turned on his camera. I lifted my wrist, revealing my watch. Then, I carefully slid it up around my hand, and it was off. My image began flickering, much to the shock of the officers. "My name is Donatello Hamato." I said. My voice was echoing around the theater, so the microphones must have been switched on. "And I am the mutant you came for." At those words, the last of my disguise vanished. Small screams and gasps came from the audience. The cast and crew knew the whole thing, so they weren't very surprised. But everyone who was part of the police department were dumbfounded. I turned to April. "This is April, my girlfriend. She is part Kraang. Those are the aliens who attacked us five year ago. She is also a mutant." I turned to Sensei next. "And this is my father, Yoshi Hamato, or as I know him, Master Splinter. He is also a mutant." Master Splinter took off his own watch, causing much louder screams from a few officers. I think one might have fainted. But I kept going. "We would like to tell you our story."

Over the next hour and a half, everything came out. I told them about Sensei's past in Japan, with Tang Shen and Miwa, and how Shredder killed Tang Shen. I told about how Sensei came to the city, and the cause of his, mine, and my brother's origins as mutants. I told them how we found the abandoned subway station in the sewers, and called it home for fifteen years until my brothers and I were old enough to go to the surface. I told about the night I met April, and almost everything we've gone through since then.

But I wasn't done. I hadn't told my own story yet. I told them about the first time I saw CATS, how I had fallen in love at first sight, and how I had taken up dancing. The story of how I had hidden it for fifteen years came up, leading into the night of my twentieth mutation day. The night April found me and my secret. The night this all began. The auditions, me getting the part, and some explanations about the watches came next. Then me going to rehearsals in secret, because if my siblings found out, they wouldn't understand. The day Tiger Claw attacked, Sensei learning I could dance, and the cast learning I was a mutant came right after that. I ended it with me and Leo's fight, and the last few previews. Alongside those, I told about the panic attacks and hallucinations that I had been forcefully put through by my own mind.

Everyone was speechless. Some of the cast and crew hadn't even heard the full story until today. No one moved a muscle. Until someone in the audience got up and made his way to the stage. I went pale. Because the person who had walked on stage, was the one and only…

"ANDREW LLOYD WEBBER!" an officer in the audience shouted. Yes, it was him, right here in the flesh. The very creator of the musical itself! I guess that's what that stagehand backstage meant about the 'boss' coming soon. Andrew walked up onto the stage, right up to me, and smiled. "This proves that I couldn't have picked a better Mistoffelees. Donatello, I'm proud. You've come very far, and you deserve it. No matter what these guys say. Right?" he asked. The cast and crew began to whistle and applaud. My friends ran up to me and all pretty much tackled me in hugs. Ethel had literally jumped right off the ground and was clinging to my shoulders. Jared was still filming the entire thing.

Well, needless to say, if Andrew's opinion was that I was innocent, everyone else agreed right away. I still could barely believe it. The preview tonight was back on! Everyone was overjoyed, and Jared promised to keep the footage private, unless I was ready to release it. The cops left, telling the reporters that they had dealt with the situation, and the mutant (A.K.A. me) was not a threat. We could keep going with the show. Joss and her father were also still not in any trouble, so Joss could also continue. No one could be happier.

We did rehearsal, then the preview, and they both went well. At the stage door, a few audience members admitted to almost canceling their tickets but didn't, and they were glad they didn't. Others said the whoever was the mutant, they were fine with that. As long as we were doing what we loved, that was okay. I was still happy that people even showed up after the fiasco today. After that, we were home for the night. Well, after I told Sean about my 'extra secret plan' and we ran to quick buy something. Boy, I was glad I'd been saving up!

April met me when I got back. "Yet another success!" I said. She squealed happily and jumped right into my arms. "Yay!" she said. "Oh, Donnie. I'm so proud, you know that, right?" she asked. I nodded. "Of course, love. I've always known." I said, kissing her forehead. "Hey, thanks for being there this morning." I said. April blushed. "Anytime. Anything for you." she answered. This was one of the many times that I couldn't have had someone better to love. And I was pretty thankful for April. My April.

Now all I had to do was get to opening night, and I would be trouble free. Well, not exactly.

I still have my siblings to deal with…

 _(Mikey's POV).  
_ Of course I have to screw up everything for my best friend. It's in my nature to mess things up.

It was simple. So simple. Keep my mouth shut, and nothing bad would happen. But, I just don't like keeping secrets. It's just the wrong thing to do. I've never been good at it. My brothers just can't trust me with a secret, and I'm pretty sure Sensei can't either. Now I've gone and blown it for poor Donnie! He must hate me right now. All because I couldn't keep my mouth shut. So the only thing I've been doing is moping around for the last few days. Raph and I have both been going on patrol, while Leo was stuck down here until, well, a few hours away. It's the thirtieth today. He's been watching 'Space Heros' on replay (which is quickly getting old) to celebrate getting to leave today. But over the past few days, I've heard him blaming Donnie under his breath. I feel awful. Donnie doesn't deserve to have anything bad said about him. And I don't want to just sit here quiet. I have to say something to fix this.

So I did. And this was the result.

"Leo?" I asked. He looked up at me. "Yeah, Mikey?" I took a deep breath, and said, "I think you went too hard on Donnie." His expression immediately darkened. "Mikey, do you know how incredibly stupid his actions were? It's amazing we haven't been caught yet." I growled under my breath. "It wasn't his fault though! He was scared! And I think he was right about the whole secret keeping!" My eyes were narrowing. "If we respected him more, he would keep less things from us!" Leo turned off 'Space Heros', switched it to the news, put the T.V. on mute, and turned to face me, pretty angry now.

"Mikey...please try to understand...he put us in **danger**." Leo said. "Still! That doesn't mean you should just turn of him! He's your little brother! And you're acting up over one little secret!" I shouted in his face. "Well I guess Leo decided Donnie needed a little lesson! Get over it Mikey!" said Raph, coming in with Casey and Miwa behind him. "You know, maybe you did go a little far Leo…" Miwa said quietly. Throughout all this, she hadn't been in on the whole thing very much. Leo couldn't help the glare from ripping it's way into his eyes. "I'm still saying you should forgive him." I said. "Not to mention, in case you haven't noticed, the fact that no one has found us yet! If they even came close to, it would probably be on T.V. right now!"

"Hang on!" said Casey. He grabbed the remote and quickly turned on the volume. When I saw the headline on the news, my stomach flipped. ' _Legendary musical CATS opens once again after mutant problems.'_ We all quieted down as the story began. "Tonight, the famed musical CATS will be revived after almost sixteen years off of Broadway. CATS opened on Broadway on October 9th, 1982, and played for a record eighteen years before closing on September 10th, 2000. Everyone has big expectations for tonight, but it almost didn't happen, due to more than one incident involving mutants in this past month. In the beginning of January, a mutant known as Tiger Claw broke in and potentially tried to harm one of more of the performers, one of which reported that his family has had trouble with the mutant in the past. The father of performer Jocelyn Jarrs is being called a hero for attempting to take down the mutant. More than a week later, it was revealed by an anonymous source that one of the cast members was a mutant themselves." We all gasped. There was a mutant on Broadway?! "That's new…" said Raph. The reporter continued. "There were many reporters, cameras, and officers of the New York Police Department outside the Palace Theater that day, which is where the show will make it's fantastic return. A few performers were getting so bombed with questions, that they were literally chased down the street! This video sent in this morning shows an example. Let's take a look."

A video started playing on the T.V., and when it did, my jaw dropped. A man who looked about twenty was being chased across Times Square. Next to him, a girl with short red hair tied up in what looked like April's signature ponytail was also running alongside him. No! No way! It couldn't be Donnie and April...could it? It seems Leo was thinking the same thing, because he immediately jumped up, grabbed his T-phone, and dialed April's number. Sensei was just entering the room, and when he saw the report of the screen, he shouted, "Leonardo, don't!" But it was too late. April picked up seconds later. "Leo, if you're calling to apologize, then no. Save it for tonight!" Leo looked like he wasn't gonna buy what she was saying. "April, is Donnie going into that theater, yes or no?!"

Through the phone, we heard Donnie shout, "Oh crap!" That was all Leo needed for an answer. He hung up, jumped off the couch, turned off the T.V., and started for the entrance.

"Where do you think you are going?!" asked Master Splinter. Leo turned back quickly, and snapped, "Dragging Donnie's sorry shell right back down here! No way is he doing anything that's gonna get us caught tonight!" He ran as fast as he could into the garage. "Leo, don't!" I shouted desperately, but my words went unheard, as usual. A few seconds later, we heard the engine to the Shellraiser start up. Sensei sighed. "I suggest we all get ready." Raph looked up at Splinter. "Ready for what?" he demanded.

Sensei smiled. "Ready to see if we can outrun the Shellraiser."

 **A/N.  
AHHHHHHHHHH!  
I can't even believe that we are one chapter away from the chapter that I've been waiting for...OPENING NIGHT! So, the next two chapters are going to be two parts, or should I say, acts. I'm very excited, because we finally get to see Donnie's family's reaction to his dancing! Yay!**

 **Anyways, that's all for this time. Get ready for opening night in the next chapter of More Than Just Me, and once you're done, leave a review, favorite, follow, and as always…**

 **Stay tuned! ;)**


	9. King Of The Stage, Act 1

**A/N.  
This is it...THIS IS IT!**

 **Oh my gosh, I've been waiting to write opening night for so long! The rest of the family is gonna find out! OMG! And Donnie's gonna make his debut! I planned most of this out from the beginning, and I'm very proud of how far this story has come. And I actually didn't get it done by the opening night in the story, which I was aiming at. I actually didn't think I would make it from the beginning, because I've been busy. I saw Come From Away on Broadway (SO AMAZING!), and other crazy things have been going on.**

 **Other than that, I hope you all have a blast reading this chapter, and once you're done, leave a review, favorite, follow, and as always…**

 **Enjoy!**

 **Chapter 9: King Of The Stage, Act 1.  
** _(Donnie's POV).  
_ If someone had told me before I got the part that I would feel as if I was about to have a heart attack at this moment, I might have had a hard time believing them.

Now, I would have heeded their warning full force. Because they would have been right.

My heart was pounding with all the strength it had to beat, and my head felt like it was gonna explode from the pressure, the pressure that was riding along the chances of me being dragged away from my dream. I was walking a tightrope, and I might fall into two directions. Door number one held the option titled, 'Give up and let Leo take you away from everything you worked so hard for.' And the second one was, 'Accomplish your dream and cut all ties with family forever.' But I wouldn't let either of those happen until my breaking point was staring me straight in the eye. Maybe there was a chance that I could manage to do the show, and have everything turn out alright. Who knows?

April and I might have been going so fast in the Party Wagon that we might have been leaving tire marks on the ground. Lucky there weren't too many people driving with the heavy snow that had begun to fall this afternoon. We parked once again next to the Lunt Fontanne Theater, tore across Times Square as fast as we could, and arrived at the Palace Theater. My family wasn't there yet, but many ticket holders were. Some very important people, and maybe even a few celebrities were among the crowds. They were anxiously awaiting the moment those heavy doors would open, and we would show off the wonder just inside.

Once there, April and I leaned against the wall to catch our breaths after running so fast. "You doing okay?" asked April. I nodded, out of breath. Suddenly, a voice called out in an ecstatic voice, "DONNIE!", and a familiar flurry of orange hair came barreling at me. She crashed into my waiting embrace so hard that I almost toppled over. "Can you believe it?! IT'S OPENING NIGHT!" she screamed happily. "I know! I'm so excited!" I answered. Behind Ethel, Sean was running up. "You'd better be excited! We've got a ton of people coming!" Jared and Joss came out of the theater to see what all the excitement was about. Charity and Anita arrived soon, and then it was me and my closest theater friends all over again.

I met many of their family members, who were heading to wait in line. I saw Becky again, who was with her aunt Beatrice, Sean's sister. Ethel's four little sisters were there too, and it turns out, they are all serious Mistoffelees fans! I also realized that they were named after Broadway Theaters, too (Winter, Vivian, Helen, and Lyric). The sweetest part, however, was meeting Angelina again, who was back to perfectly normal after the retro-mutagen. Charity couldn't thank me enough for giving her sister back to her after five years.

After everyone was in line and waiting, Sean pulled us aside. April stood in the background, watching curiously. "Okay guys...this is it. Tonight is the night that we have to give it our all." said Sean. "Sean's right. We've gone through so much...now's our time. And no one can say otherwise." said Anita. "Are we all ready?" I nodded. "I'm not gonna pay attention to anything my family might say about me. I'll resist it."

"Donatello!" I looked up, and saw Master Splinter running towards me. "Father!" I yelled, rushing forwards. He pulled me into a tight hug. "Are you ready, my son?" he asked. I nodded, grinning like mad. "I was born ready." He smiled with pride, but the smile quickly fell when we heard, "Ready for what?" behind him. I gulped, and slowly looked around him. Standing behind him, was Raph, Casey, Miwa, and Mikey. "Alright you knucklehead. I have no idea what you think you're doing here, but it ends tonight! Now you've ticked off Leo one to many times, and it's got me angry. And for once, I agree with Leo. You're going home, now!" said Raph.

I had to stand my ground. "Well, you can tell Leo, that you're not taking me away from the night I've been waiting to come for almost my entire life!" Raph's eyes narrowed. "What could you have possibly been waiting that long for?!" he asked. I was getting desperate. "You'll see once I get in there!" I said. "Well, whatever it is, why did you hide it from us?" asked Miwa. She was actually taking a friendlier approach, so I calmed down a bit. "Because none of you would have understood." I said. "None of you would listen."

"That doesn't matter anymore." I went pale, then red in the face. When I turned around, there was Leo. By now, many people in line with their tickets had overheard our heated conversation, and were now listening closely. "Donnie, stop whatever this is, and get into the van! We are going home, and we're never coming back!" This time, I wasn't gonna listen. "Leo, you're never gonna take me away. I belong here." Ethel decided to jump in. "Yeah! We accept him, mutant or not!"

Oh my gosh. What did she say?! I gasped in horror. She did too, because she just revealed that I was the mutant. "Oh no!" she said. "Donnie, I'm so sorry!" I knelt down. "It's okay, it's not your fault." I told her. Leo was furious. He went straight up to me, pushing little Ethel to the ground while doing so. That did it. Something in me snapped. But I didn't let my own fury loose just yet. "Donnie. We are going home. I don't care how long you've worked on this, our secret is out! And that's all thanks to you! So say goodbye to your friends, because you're not seeing them again!"

"Let him stay!" I turned around. It was April. In the light of the theater marquee, she was unbelievably gorgeous. She was defending me with everything she had. Ethel got up out of the snow and stood in front of me. "Yeah, let him stay!" I realized what they were doing and smiled. These are the moments that I thank my lucky stars that I have such wonderful friends backing me up. Leo glared down at Ethel. "Look, little girl. Get out of the way, and let me speak to my-"

"Let him stay! Let him stay! Let him stay!" Ethel began chanting, drowning out Leo. Moments later, April caught on. Then Jared. Then Joss. Anita, Charity, Sean. To our amazement, everyone standing in line also joined. Anita and Jared ran to the backstage doors and pulled them wide open. This is my moment to escape. "DONNIE!" Leo shout in disbalife. Apparently, he thought I was just gonna go with him. Whatever he was thinking, was wrong. "You're not going in there! I can still stop you! Why aren't you listening?! Who do you think you **are**?!"

" _Who do you think you are."_ Leo's bitter words rung in my head like a bell. Who did I think I was? For a few seconds, I didn't know. I was suddenly faced with the same menacing choice as before. I was uncertain. My family was in front of me, telling me to obey, and follow them. And the backstage doors were behind me, beckoning me into the building. No, into my destiny. I knew what to do now. I turned to my family one more time, before making to most important decision of my life.

"I...am Donatello Hamato." I said, slowly walking backwards, towards the theater. "And tonight, I'm gonna prove to you all...that I...am _more than just me_."

With that, I turned on my heel and ran through the open doors. My friends followed, slamming the doors on my family's dumbfounded faces.

 _(April's POV).  
_ There wasn't really anything else that could be marked as eventful until we eventually got into the theater.

It was surprisingly easy. After the whole thing with Donnie's confrontation, Leo was a little too shaken to speak. Sensei simply walked into line, along with the rest of the waiting crowd. We all followed, either out of willingness (me), curiosity (everyone besides Leo, and Raph, sort of), or obedience (Leo and Raph, sort of). No one else bothered us. After witnessing all that just happened, they had the sense that we didn't exactly want to be bothered. Leo, Raph, Miwa, and Casey all went completely silent afterwards.

However, Mikey was still confused. I kept glancing back at him, and saw that he had no clue what was going on. He didn't like seeing his brothers… well, basically on the verge of war with each other. And to be honest, neither did I.

Eventually, Mikey caught my gaze traveling to look back at him, and he came to stand next to me. "How are you doing Mikey?" I asked. I always checked up on him, to see how he was doing. He's sort of become a little brother to me. And I didn't mind one bit. He was usually fine, a permanent smile plastered onto his freckled face 24/7. But tonight, that freckled smile was in hiding. He didn't answer right away, but eventually said, "I just don't understand what Donnie could be hiding from us." I smiled sadly. "He was scared you were gonna judge." I said.

Mikey frowned. "I would never judge Donnie. He's my best friend. And I'll always be there to support him." Well, I couldn't really blame myself for giving him a hint. They were gonna find out eventually. "Good. He's gonna need it out there tonight." I answered. Mikey still looked bewildered for a split second...and then, his baby blue eyes widened. He knew now. He understood what Donnie's intentions were. "He's in the…?" Mikey trailed off. "Yeah. He's in the cast." I answered.

 _(Donnie's POV).  
_ In my defense...I couldn't help but freak out.

"Okay! You just need to calm down a little!" said Jared as I frantically paced the dressing room. I had waited until I got into costume before I began to panic. "Jared, there is no way I can calm down! Did you see how angry Leo was?! What if he ends up ruining this for me?! For us?! **What if he tries to stop the show?!** " The scenes playing out in my head weren't pretty. It was all I could do not to reach up and pull the fake fur out of my wig. Well, I couldn't exactly do that, but you get the idea.

"DONNIE!" Jared shouted, grabbing me by the shoulders and shaking me. "It's okay! We're all nervous! But we can't let this one little thing bring us down. I promise you, everything's gonna be okay." He let go of my shoulders. "It's gonna be fine. And if not...then they'll have to go through me and the others before we let you leave." I heaved a sigh, and tried to calm myself. "Okay...alright...I'm calm…" I said. Suddenly, we heard a voice say over a loudspeaker, "Five minutes everyone, the show will be opening in five minutes. The call is in five minutes." Jared and I looked at each other, wide-eyed...and then bolted downstairs. Everyone was milling around, giddy and energetic. We had a great performance in store tonight, I just knew it.

Before I knew it, five minutes had passed, and we heard this: "Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to CATS at the Palace Theater. We would like to take this opportunity to remind you that the taking of photographs and the use of recording devices are strictly prohibited. Also, please make sure to turn off your cellphones, unwrap any candies, and note the nearest emergency exits. CATS is performed live, and tonight's orchestra will be conducted by Chandler Smith. Thank you for your cooperation, and we hope you enjoy the show."

Thunderous applause. "Oh my gosh." I muttered. Anita, who was standing next to me, whispered into my ear, "Here we go!" A few seconds of silence...and then the orchestra burst to life, with the show's overture booming through the theater. The audience was dead quiet, spellbound. In the next second two little green lights came on somewhere on stage. They were nothing but tiny pin-pricks, but I knew they were meant to be cat eyes. Then another pair appeared, then another, and another, and a few more seconds later, the whole stage was illuminated. I looked out into the audience, and judging by the looks on their faces, the really did feel as if those hundreds of cat eyes were watching them, slowly. The music was quickly picking up, and I heard footsteps on the set above me. That had to be Zinnia and Raymond, heading up to the mezzanine and balcony respectively.

You see, normally, there would be box seats on the sidewall of the theater, where a lucky person or two would get to sit. But we covered those up for our production, and this was entirely new to the show. Instead, the Junkyard set disguised the small passageways that we traveled through to reach the higher levels of the theater. Normally, the cats would only go into the orchestra...but we couldn't just leave the people on the two upper levels without a few surprises, right? That included my own family. Since I was in the show, they got in free. And they were on the very edge of the top level. Some of the best seats in the house.

As the main theme began to play, six pairs of eyes suddenly burst on in all three levels of the theater. I could see Fern Renee and Raymond up in the balcony, Zinnia and Hercules in the mezzanine, and just caught a glimpse of Max and little Ethel in the orchestra. More applause from the audience. They were really being pulled into the CATS world now. The overture went on for about another minute, but for me, it was all breathtaking. I couldn't help but breathe a little faster and the overture sped up, and ended a few seconds later. The audience went crazy, whistling and shouting and clapping. The stage was silent...until two spotlights went on, and moved across the stage, falling onto Judy, who was crossing unseen. She hissed, and darted across the stage to the other side, smiling at me and Anita as she passed us. Someone in the audience whistled.

Another spotlight went on, as Ben slid onto a set piece, and the first few bars of the opening number played, before everything was silent again. A second later, Joss slid into her spot, right on the edge of the stage, as the next few bars played, very quietly. Anita turned to me. "They're doing great!" Hercules bounded to his spot, as the orchestra played a little louder this time. The fourth time, Judy went back on stage. She was just a few feet away from us. "Hey." I heard Anita say to me. She was smiling. "You're gonna do so great. I promise." I smiled back as an answer. Pam and Woody came out for the fifth set of bars, identically, due to the fact they were playing twins, that had to do everything the same. It was one of those Siamese twin acts. Funny thing, their characters were actually Siamese cats. Fern Renee came out of an opening, crawling forwards, then stopping. Taylor, Randy, Max, and Betty had climbed near the top of the set, and all appeared hanging off the junk piles, looking around. Another spotlight on Ben, who had gone to the front of the stage, and looked around. He stood, moved forwards some more as the piano played a few more bars, stood to full height, and sang the first lines of the show;

" _Are you blind when you're born?"_

Fern Renee followed his example. " _Can you see in the dark?"_ she sang, waving her arms back and forth. Hercules and Elliot were next, but I turned back to Anita while they sang " _Dare you look at a king? Would you sit on his throne?"_. "You're gonna be good too." I said. "They're gonna love you." Jared came on, in a different costume than the one he wears for most of the show. For now, he was a chorus cat. " _Can you say of your bite, that it's worse than your bark?"_

Sean sprang from his hiding place in the stage, clad in black and white, like me. I heard a few people shriek in excitement at his appearance. " _Are you cock of the walk?"_ he called as loud as he could, in time with the drums. As we said earlier, Judy had slunk back out to stage left, and now she was adding " _When you're walking alone?"_ , before they launched into the main chorus.

" _Because Jellicles are, and Jellicles do.  
Jellicles do, and Jellicles would  
Jellicles would and Jellicles can.  
Jellicles can and Jellicles do."_

" _When you fall on your head, do you land on your feet?"_ Sandra Jane sang as she entered. Woody and Pam rose from their spot on the stage, singing " _Are you tense when you sense, there's a storm in the air?"_ Now it was little Ethel's turn. I think our hearts were all swelling with pride when her spotlight came to shine on her and the audience clapped and cheered for the show's littlest member, welcoming her to the theater world with open arms and a wide smile. She returned that wide smile while singing, " _Can you find your way blind, when you're lost in the street?"_ When Anita bounded her way to center stage, everyone saw the gleaming white and clapped for her as well, recognizing Victoria. One of the most known characters in CATS. Raymond and Adrian hoisted her up into the air, for all to see, as everyone on stage shared the line, " _Do you know how to go, to the Heaviside Layer?"_

" _Because Jellicles can, and Jellicles do!  
Jellicles do and Jellicles can!  
Jellicles can and Jellicles do!  
Jellicles do and Jellicles can!  
Jellicles can, and Jellicles do!"_

I was so entranced, that I almost missed Charity's signal from the other side of the stage.

This was it. This was everything. Everything I had been working for. Fifteen years would not be wasted. Not tonight. Charity and I were next. Watching each other we dropped to our hands and knees, and in a slow crawling motion, made our way out of the shadows, and into the darker parts of the stage, and working our way to the front.

In seconds, the loudest shrieking from the audience we've had all night came on, followed by monstrous applause, and I knew why. It was because of me. The lights hadn't found my face yet, but I could help but glance up at the audience and feel a grin flicker across it. Judy, Sandra Jane, Pam, and Woody were all giving their lines, and the audience wasn't giving up their excitement. They were waiting for me. I prayed my family couldn't see me just yet. All I needed was a few more seconds, and I would be ready. " _Can you ride on a broomstick, to places far distant? Familiar with candle? With book and with bell?"_

Charity was rising to give out her line, " _Were you Whittington's friend?"_ My heart, pulse, breath, everything started going a mile a minute! I was next. I was gonna do this! Come on Donnie! Gather your courage, as much as you can handle! I threw my head up to face the crowd, fet myself rise higher from the stage, the spotlight shone at me, revealing me to the crowd as I sang " _The Pied Piper's assistant?"_ It wasn't until after I ducked away as Max sang, " _Have you been in alumnus of heaven and hell?"_ , that they stopped the applause. I hadn't just revealed myself to the crowd. Oh no, it was more than that. I had revealed my true identity to my loved ones, the people closest to me, more than anyone in the whole world. I was in a little bit of a daze as more people around me went on.

" _Are you mean like a minx?"_ Carter called.  
" _Are you lean like a lynx?"_ Isabella answered.  
 _Are you keen, to be seen, when you're smelling a rat?"_ Betty said (I really hoped Master Splinter didn't mind that lyric).  
 _  
_I knew it was my time again as Joss took her turn addressing the crowd, with " _Were you there when the pharaoh commissioned the sphinx?"_ With all the confidence I had, I made my way to the front, my voice mingling with everyone else's as we sang as one with the orchestra's climatic music, belting out a flawless " _If you were and you are, you're a Jellicle cat!"_

With me in the lead, we threw ourselves into the dancing. I spun on one foot, arms raised above my head before ducking down slightly, and repeating the movement. I was exhilarated, beyond control. Everyone was moving fast, just as overjoyed as me. We had made it. We beat our troubles to the finish line. This was really happening. The show was gonna be okay, and all our work had paid off gratefully. Especially for all the Broadway debuts, like me.

For the next few minutes, we were unstoppable. Jumps, spins, twirls, everything was going off without a hitch. At one point, Betty went soaring overhead on a small trapeze, a very famous part of the show which received a large round of applause for her. Less than a minute later, we were assembling on the giant tire onstage, and the steps leading up to it, forming a pyramid. This was the night of a lifetime, and I enjoyed every second. We sang higher and higher to the point that a few voices were straining to hold for so long.

And then came a quiet moment in the song. We were still in the small pyramid, but we all sang very quietly. We knew the lyrics by heart, and as we sang, I could finally get a good look at tonight's audience.

I actually knew many faces out there tonight. Family members of other cast members, Andrew Lloyd Webber was in the front row, and I even saw a few cast members from the past productions of the show! And besides them, many more celebrities who had shown up for the occasion. And when I lifted my gaze just a little higher, to the very center of the balcony…

There they were.

And the ones who didn't know, were speechless, jaw dropped, even a little horrified!

I immediately faced the orchestra level instead, not wanting to deal with emotions. They knew. My secret was out there, for all to see. For all to experience. And before I knew it, we were rushing back out on stage, dancing even faster this time. At one point, I leapt forwards and did a split, right in mid-air! It wasn't much, but it was only just the beginning of what I could do. That'll show my family how devoted I was! But I couldn't dance too much yet. I had to save my strength for the Jellicles Ball. Then I would let my talents loose.

The audience was deafening when the first song was finished.

As soon as the applause was over, we launched into the second one. This one was very slow, and we sang it almost as if we were chanting some strange incantation. Some people might find this song a little creepy, but I found it interesting. Mind wandering, I sang the lyrics right, but slowly looked back up at my family. Not April or Sensei though. The ones who didn't know.

I started with Mikey, which was a good call. His big blue eyes were intently darting around the stage, drinking in everything they saw with wonder. He was loving they show. I couldn't help but grin, taking in his reaction. I knew, already somehow, that he was okay with this. No, more than okay. Ecstatic, like he always is. We made eye contact, and his smile grew even wider. Then he quietly waved, and it took everything for me not to break character and wave back.

Casey and Miwa...to be honest, I don't think they knew what to think. They were just watching, and a little bit confused. I could tell they weren't getting the story, and something told me I was in for a long explanation tomorrow. But to some extent, they were enjoying it. I was glad. Maybe they would understand, just a little bit.

Raph, of course, was watching, but was staring at us, transfixed. He was confused as well, but not by the storyline. He wanted to know why. Why I was doing this. Why this, of all things. He couldn't let go that I had never really wanted to be smart. I'd never wanted to be who I was. And I don't want to go back.

Leo looked...absolutely furious. With me.

I made my face look a little expressionless. Leo knows when I do this, I'm trying to send a very clear message to him. And tonight, I'm telling him to kindly stop staring. He wasn't listening. I don't think I was gonna get through to him. He has every right to be angry. He wants me to just get off the stage, and back down below where he thought I belonged. Oh, I couldn't wait until later in the show when I showed him what I could do.

Quickly, I realized that Anita and I were the only ones in the purple tinted spotlight left. A few of the other cast members, like Hercules, and even Jared, had gone out into the audience again, slowly creeping closer to them, slowly pulling them further into the world of CATS. Some of the others, like Sean, were starting to blend in with the set. The audience's focus was on Anita and I. She gave me a knowing look, and I turned from the audience, and began to creep into the shadows. I pulled myself across the stage, and then up onto the small set of steps going up to the giant tire. Then, I faced the audience again and waited patiently.

Seconds later, our singing ceased, and Anita began Victoria's solo, a noticeable dance piece in the show. The basics were that she did a series of incredibly hard moves, almost in slow motion. This was a powerful point in the show, and a very famous moment in theater. It only took a minute for her to finish, and that was my que. I rushed out behind her, throwing my arms out above my head. Anita got up, and we began to dance, not very much (and nothing serious, so my family still hadn't seen the last of me), but enough. I also sang, my first real singing solo. Misto actually gets to sing a lot too, so that the main focus of the character doesn't have to be dancing.

" _Jellicle cats, come out tonight!  
Jellicle cats, come one, come all!  
The Jellicle Moon is shining bright!  
Jellicles come to the Jellicle Ball!  
Jellicles cats come out tonight!  
Jellicles come to the Jellicle Ball!"_

When I finished, Ben took over, but not before the round of applause. I felt honored to have had them clap for me.

 _(Later…)  
_ Act One has been going sharply.

After my singing, Zinnia got to go on with her song. She did fantastic, with both her singing, and her tap number. Yeah, she led most of the cast in this crazy tap number, which we spent weeks working on, due to the difficulty level. I didn't appear until the very end, but the few steps I did have to do...you know what, maybe I should start learning that too, just to get familiar. I mean, it doesn't have to just be contemporary, right?

Jared was pretty much a star when he went on next. The audience was hooting and hollering every ten seconds, and there were a **lot** of fangirls out there. One sitting in the front row got unexpectedly pulled out into the aisle and got to have a picture taken from an oversized camera Judy had brought out onstage. There was actually a real iPad inside, which took a real picture. And Ethel, Anita, Sean, Joss, Charity, and I all jumped in at the last second. I pretty sure we looked ridiculous, considering the fact that it caught me right in mid-air and I was nothing but a blur, but who cares? No one did. During that number in particular, I brought the dancing up another level. Each number, I'm a little bit better than before. It was building up to the ball, when everything will go full-force.

Lydia got some of the most applause, but it didn't last long. Her first song was very powerful, due to the fact that it was Grizabella's first song. The tribe has turned on Grizabella, and won't let her return. I don't know what mistake she had made before the story, but apparently, it wasn't good. I added a new element for that. I made Misto a little...skittish around Griz.

Don't even ask what happened during Kevin's first appearance. It left the audience roaring with laughter, that's for sure.

Carter and Isabella's antics were enjoyed by the crowd. They were running and prancing around the stage like deer in a meadow. And when they did the (also very famous) double-cartwheel, the audience went wild. What could I say? Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer are a very popular duo in the show.

Then it was Daniel's turn to appear. Daniel played Old Deuteronomy, whom I've mentioned before, the Jellicle's leader (very important later on). I didn't have a singing part in that one, but Misto can tell when Deuteronomy is close by. Daniel enters through a door out to the lobby, up an aisle, and Misto is the one sent to bring him into the Junkyard, which I did without any problems.

That's when we really began to have fun. You see, from what I could piece together from other cast members, Munkustrap (Ben's character) is Deuteronomy's son (so is Tugger, played by Jared. They have a sibling rivalry). And every Jellicle Ball, Munkustrap puts on his father's favorite play, about...dogs.

Talk about irony.

Anyways, the dogs are portrayed by the rest of the Jellicles, but they seem to hate doing the play, so they purposely screw it up (I'm sure this was organized by Tugger, who seems to be the ringleader). Characters come in at the wrong times, Isabella and Carter steal each other's lines, the other cats constantly bug Munkustrap for no good reasons at all, Raymond (a.k.a Pouncival) leads most of the boys (minus me and some others) in a hilarious parade around the stage, my **shoe** goes flying off at one point (don't ask), Ethel trips over said shoe, and to top it all off, Jared comes marching onstage playing makeshift bagpipes. Then we all start barking like crazy, which takes about fifteen seconds for Munkustrap, who looks ready to tear out his fur, to sort it out. Daniel, and the audience, were laughing even harder than Kevin's first appearance! When I glanced up at the balcony again, April was beside herself with laugher, and even Master Splinter was snickering. Which he never did unless absolutely necessary.

Anyways, now that was all finished, and it was almost time for the ball. Right on time, the light flashed and an enormous " _CRASH!"_ sounded, sending the cats into a panic. " _MACAVITY!"_ shrieked Judy, and we all fled. As I mentioned somewhere before this, Macavity is the story's villain. He constantly terrorizes the tribe...and he's dead set on kidnapping Demeter, who he's in love with, despite her being with Munkustrap. Clearly, he's almost succeeded before, which is why she's so terrified of him.

Now, it's time for the Jellicle Ball to start.

Many of the cats are hiding. Clearly, the Macavity signal had been a false alarm, and now, Deuteronomy was calling the cats back, to start the ball. As the music continued, more and more cats began to slowly slide from their spots. I did too, but I stayed in my spot, on top of the car. I didn't come on for about another minute, so I watched, waiting for the right moment. When it was my time however...I just knew it would be spectacular, magic and all.

Throughout the show, I've been giving hints about Misto's abilities. At one point, Misto telekinetically opened the back of the car, where Zinnia was waiting for her number, and would make her entrance. In Jared's number, Misto changes many of the lights, turning them on and off at will and making them change colors. And a few songs later, there was an unlit light bulb onstage, that Misto only had to tap on to make it light up. Nothing too special yet. We'll save that for Act 2.

Once again, I take a small glance at the balcony, this time focusing on Leo only. Nope. Still the same. He looks as if he's watching a sickening ballet.

Oh gosh, did I just say that?!

The Song of the Jellicles is the first real section of the Jellicle Ball, and my line is coming up soon. I creep into a crab-walk like position, very hard to do. The other cast members were throwing out lines every second, and mine was coming on. " _We're quiet enough in the morning hours, we're quiet enough in the afternoon."_ everyone sang. Still in the same, extremely hard position, I began sliding upwards, throwing one arm above my head, reaching for the sky, coming close to bending over backwards as I sang loudly, " _Reserving our terpsichorean powers!"_ And everyone followed with, " _To dance by the light of the Jellicle Moon!"_

I gracefully stood, slid down from the car on the smooth surface, and joined in on the dancing. A few lyrics away, and then...yes! We were in position to start the ball. The entire cast was in a triangle shaped group, with the point facing the audience. At the point's very tip, was Anita, in her spotless white costume and all the grace to go with it. To her left, and slightly behind her, was little Ethel. And to her right, slightly behind her...me. I was near the very front, so everyone would be looking to us to lead them through the number. Now was the time. No, now was **my** time.

Seconds later, the dance began. It was slow, sharp movements to go with the soft music. Then, it got faster. One loud note signaled for us to fall to the floor, which we did, and second later, the main theme started, and we rose, beginning to go a little faster with our movements. Not too fast, but much more than before. Anita, Ethel, and a few of the others broke away from the rest of us and began doing separate moves than us, leaving me in the front. However, me and four others behind me quickly echoed her, like shadows. As the music flowed, we followed seamlessly. Our motions were packed with perfection. I remembered every step.

Then me and some of the others were running from the spotlights as Freddie, Carter, and Isabella began their solos. Daniel sat off to the side on an overturned paint bucket, which Max brought over for him. I was standing on the opposite side of the stage to them, watching. After Freddie, Carter, and Isabella were done, Sean and Joss took a turn, and then Charity stole the stage with Judy, Pam, Opal and once again, Joss. Then Jared came on, and it was all over for the fangirls. They were screaming, again. Who knew Tugger was so popular among fans?!

Afterwards, I was asking myself the same question.

Once Jared and the girls were finished, everyone gathered around the sides of the set, leaving the stage wide open for me to dance to my heart's content. I swayed out onto the stage, and began the most technical dancing I've done all night yet. Kicking my leg high over my head, twirling, leaping, prancing around like no one cared. This was complex contemporary. This was what I was hiding. No one in the cast moved. They were spellbound by me, gaze drawn nowhere else but my spotlight. No one in the audience moved either. I saw a lot of them watching, eyes looking ready to pop right out of their sockets they were so wide. I realized why a second later when I finished, followed by the roar of the crowd. They had never seen anything like me.

Well, they haven't seen the last of me, cause a minute later, I was back, this time with Anita. We were doing a dance solo together...the awkward one I mentioned earlier. Once again, April was here to witness it. Luckily however, she had already told me more than once before that she was okay with it, because it was just acting, right?

Boy, April was in for a surprise tonight. I had requested to do something for April after the bows tonight, when we were all giving a few speeches. This was the biggest gift I would ever give her. And it was sitting in my dressing room, hidden carefully. My friends in the show were the only ones who knew what I was planning, and they were keeping the secret well. Right before going onstage for my number, Jared and I would run up to our dressing room, and while I did the costume change, he would grab what I got for April, and hold onto it until the end of the show. We were just praying to our lucky stars that he didn't drop it. It was either that, or have me hide it under my wig. We tried that once during a dress rehearsal, and it ended with my wig going flying out into the front row after being unfastened a little. That was a very unpleasant event.

Before I knew it, the solo was over, and Grizabella (a.k.a. Lydia) was back on stage, standing on the car, wanting to join in on the festivities. The rest of us were lying on the stage, all in one tight little group. But not for long. While everyone was resting, Misto was wound like a spring, ready to pounce at any given moment. And I did pounce, jumping up, sensing the unfamiliar presence. Other cast members, like Woody, Pam and Hercules followed my example. I saw Lydia first, and pointed in alarm. While Sean bounded over to chase her off, Anita and Ethel were pulling me up and towards the front. I ran to keep up with them, the music was getting faster and faster, I threw up my hands…

And in a moment, hundreds of tiny christmas lights (which were strung up throughout the Junkyard), went blazing to life in a multicolored flash, sending the audience into another round of screams and applause. We began to dance, even more this time than any other time in the show. Now I was really alive, showing off my abilities to the crowd as they whistled and clapped in approval.

I was moving at full speed, kicking and clawing, bending every which way, dancing to the fullest. At one point, I had moved towards the back as some of the others cats leapt across the stage coming from stage left and stage right, going in both directions, and when they cleared, there was an open path for me, towards the front. I rushed in, jumping into splits three times before skidding to a stop and veering towards stage left. The audience was going crazy.

As each moment passed, we were on fire. I lost every inhibition, lost myself in my dancing, and the world around me ceased to exist. The choreography was flooding through my brain as I copied every movement. It was bliss, being able to dance like this! It was even better than I remembered the previews being. The others around me were feeling exactly the same, I could see it on their faces. Our hearts pounded as one, our minds buzzed together, pulses rushing to the beat of both the other pulses, and the music. Every kick, spin, and other movement we did, was ridiculously empowering. We were tired, probably very sweaty, I definitely knew that, but we didn't care. No one could take this away from us. I came to this conclusion as we came seconds away from one of the most famous parts of the show. Everything became a blur to me. I remember rushing forward, as if about to take flight, throwing my arms out to the side and then raising them up to the ceiling…

And just like that, we were alive. All of us.

This was the most applause all night. We were still moving, in slow motion, but with strength, and beauty. We were on top of the world. And one more minute, and we will have done it. For all those people. Everyone who looked up to us. Everyone who saw us as heros.

Before I even realized, I was lying on the stage floor, panting. The Jellicle Ball was over, and the applause had never stopped. The audience was so excited...wait...oh my goodness...IT WAS A STANDING OVATION!

We couldn't have been happier. Breathless, I glanced up at my family and gave them a weak smile. April and Sensei looked the most excited, and both of them were on their feet as well. The others just looked even more shocked than when I first came on stage.

Pretty soon, Lydia came once again, and I scampered off stage, up the stairs, and to my dressing room. I was overcome with emotion, but I stopped myself from crying with happiness. A few seconds later, Jared came in and we started screaming like teenage girls at a boy band concert. Hopefully those words will never come into one sentence in my mind ever again.

We did it. The show was in full swing, and Act 2 was on it's way. I was in heaven.

I wonder what my siblings were thinking right now?

 **A/N.  
...AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!**

 **OMG! OMG! I'VE BEEN WAITING MONTHS TO WRITE THAT CHAPTER. I PLANNED THAT FOR MONTHS! I'M JUST SO EXCITED RIGHT NOW!**

… ****

 **Too much?**

 **Okay, enough of that. Seriously though, this was exciting to write, and by far, my favorite chapter. It also took forever, and I hope it was good. Next chapter...we crank up the volume, because Act 2 still awaits! It includes Donnie's brothers reactions during intermission, Donnie's number (Ah! Yes!), and a sweet surprise after the show! After Act Two, one more chapter and then we're done! I can't believe it...this will have been the first story I've ever finished!**

 **Anyways...I hope you've enjoyed this chapter, and once you're done, leave a review, favorite, follow, and as always…**

 **Stay tuned! ;)**


	10. King Of The Stage, Act 2

**A/N.  
Oh gosh...this is Donnie's moment of truth.**

 **Also...I'm so sorry this is late! I ended up seeing SEVEN Broadway shows (Carousel, Anastasia, School Of Rock, Phantom of the Opera, SpongeBob, which my sister wanted to see badly, Kinky Boots, where I MET MARK BALLAS, ONE OF MY IDOLS!, and Aladdin) in the last ten months, so it took forever!**

 **Anyways, it took forever, but here it finally is. And then after this, one more chapter. I hope you all love this chapter, and once you're done, leave a review, favorite, follow, and as always…**

 **Enjoy!**

 **King Of The Stage, Act 2.  
** _(April's POV).  
_ "Well," I started, standing and facing my friends. "What do you have to say for yourselves?"

If they were going to say anything, the least I expected was for Raph to silently say " _Why?"_

"What was that, Raph?"

"It's just...why? Why this, of all things?" he said, confused. "It's what he wants to do." I answered. "You remember he said you guys wouldn't understand. Well, this is exactly why."

"He's...actually really good." said Miwa. "And I do get it. He thought you guys would make fun of him and act stereotypical." Slowly, it was dawning on them. It made perfect sense. Donnie was just living the way he wanted to. And they had almost ruined it for him. Leo still looked stubbornly unmoved from where he was sitting. With the same glare he had plastered on his face for the last week.

"Leonardo, I understand your motives of keeping the family safe, and I am proud." said Splinter. "However...you may have taken this a little bit too far, my son." Leo grumbled under his breath. "What was that?" asked Splinter.

"How long have you known?" he said sharply. "No more than a month. I caught him during Tiger Claw's attack. I had followed to make sure he and April weren't throwing themselves headfirst into danger. Poor Donatello must have been convinced I hated him… and not for the ambush, for his talent. He may even think you think that of him now."

I sat back down. Donnie looked as if he was having the time of his life out there tonight, sharing his gift with the world. But deep down, he was terrified of rejection. He always has been. And he always will be. It's just in his nature.

Good thing he knows exactly how to do himself justice. He's been doing it in secret for longer than it deserved to be secret…

 _(Donnie's POV).  
_ After the celebration period ended, we got down to business.

Business is nothing out of the ordinary. Another layer of makeup, mic checks, finally getting a drink of water, etc. Jared and I finally got to sit and talk about how we were doing tonight. During Act One, we would occasionally run by each other, and greet the other one with a high five or thumbs up. But now we were alone.

"I can't believe how many people I saw smiling out there." said Jared. I nodded. "I know! Who knew we would almost have a full house tonight? And did you see Becky's face when you made that entrance?" We both laughed at the memory of little Becky, in the middle of the orchestra, mouth wide open and eyes lighting up like little christmas lights as Jared entered in a cloud of smoke. If I wasn't so busy with the choreography, I could have sworn she mouthed Jared's name.

"Um...don't mind me asking...do you have the...you know…" Jared said, but I immediately knew he was talking about the little 'gift' I had for April. "Oh, I've got that right here." I said, pulling the small parcel that held the tiny object in question from under my bag. "I've been keeping it out of sight so no one could accidentally move it or something. Nothing can ruin the surprise I have for her tonight." With that, I slipped the object back away from Jared's eyes. I truly believe it. She was gonna love it.

My family on the other hand…

"What's the matter?" asked Jared. "You had this faraway look in your eyes for a second."

I jumped. Man, I'm like an open book. It's too easy for people to read my emotions. "I was just thinking about them." I answered honestly. "Your family?" he asked again. I nodded, eyes wandering down to the table. "It's gonna be pretty complicated explaining everything to them. April and I want to do it at her apartment, but… still, Leo's gonna be mad. I don't know what's getting into him. Normally, he would never have an overreaction like the one he did. He's probably gonna have a conniption fit by the time this is over!"

We both found ourselves laughing at the idea suddenly. I just couldn't help myself. "Look, if you and April need help, we'll stop by and help with the explanation. Just to make it a little easier for you." he said. My eyes widened. "You...you would do that for me?" I asked quietly. When he nodded, I brought my hand up to my mouth. "Oh my gosh… Jared, thank you! Thank you so much!" I said. He leaned over and wrapped his arms around me.

"Anything for my friends. You guys are like brothers and sisters to me. I would never say no to one of you." he said.

"Five minutes everyone! The call for Act Two is five minutes!" said the stage manager through the small intercom mounted to the wall. I smiled. "Shall we continue?" I asked, chuckling. In response, he opened the door and gestured for me to step out. "Gladly. Let's get this show on the road!"

 _(Roughly one hour later…)._

" _You ought to ask….. Magical….. Mr. Mistoffelees!….._

My number couldn't have come faster. It seems so sudden that I was up in the ceiling again, at the very top. There was darkness everywhere, except the single, tiny spotlight below me.

And I was terrified.

This was it. Really, _really_ , it. My number. And my family was watching for the first time. I could only imagine their faces when they saw this. If Leo thought the Jellicle Ball was bad, this would be a thousand times worse in his view! He would be furious! And he's manipulative sometimes, so his attitude might rub off on the others… well, at least I had three of them on my side. Plus, everyone from the show that I was close to.

I suddenly felt myself choking up at the thought. They weren't just my friends, I truly loved them. To think of how far we've come since that first day in the studio was incredibly emotional. We've had each other's backs every step of the way. I was proud of them. They were proud of me. They were my second family.

Suddenly, I felt myself being lowered to the ground, and I blocked out any negative emotions. I stood, descending, holding on tight, feeling graceful.

 _Breathe in…_

Tonight, it was different. Different than any other time I've done the number. I couldn't hear anything. I decided not to. I watched the crowd's excited faces, cheering and screaming, but I couldn't hear them. This would be different. Like when I was back in my own, tiny world, all those years ago, teaching myself how to dance.

 _Breathe out…_

I sang at the right times. When the music cued a certain move, I would strike it fiercely, reminded of my ninjutsu training as well. The crowd acted as if they had fallen under a spell. But I chose to hear nothing. Everything moved at a slow, easy pace for me. I could feel it all around me, in my own time, at my own pace.

And all was calm.

 _Breathe in…_

Jared, Ethel, Anita, Charity, Sean, even Joss, seemed to end up by my side every second. They and the rest of the ensemble looked ready to leap into the air and fly.

 _Breathe out…_

When I looked at my family's faces, I saw only three of them. Sensei, Mikey, and April. The others, I had blocked away.

The ones I did see, were smiling.

 _Breathe in…_

 _Breathe out…_

 _ **Breathe…**_

And suddenly, I was done.

I tuned back in just as the audience leapt to their feet. It was a second standing ovation. Distantly, in another world, I felt myself smiling.

The rest of the show passed. Lydia, Jared, all of them, had been successful. The audience loved them during the curtain call, I looked at Jared, and asked him in a dazed sounding voice, "What just happened?"

"I think we've been amazing all night. They certainly know it," he said, gesturing to the audience, "And we know it, too." He smiled. "You were fantastic."

"I didn't think." I said. "I just did. It's something my father keeps telling me to do. I don't need to think about possible outcomes. I needed to be in the moment."

Jared went on to take a bow, and the others followed. I watched, one by one, as they came, fooling around, entertaining the audience, striking a few more dance moves. I was on after Sean. When he came out doing cartwheels, he bowed, then stepped back slightly, holding out his arm in a gesture to me.

The spotlight was mine. The crowd was thundering. This was it. Feeling like my heart was about to burst from my chest, I leapt forward, ready to see the (few) proud faces of my family and friends…

And this time, it could never compare to a dream.

The loudest applause I had ever heard seems to come straight from the audience. I was laughing with delight, even as I ran to join the others in their little group. We waited as the last person finished up, and then up on stage, came Andrew Lloyd Webber, who looked to be in wonderful spirits. I listened through some of it, but my mind began to wander. It was almost time for a little surprise I had planned, and out of the corner of my eye, Jared slipped away to retrieve something from our dressing room. I silently hoped he would get back in time, just as I heard this from Andrew.

"... in particular, someone very special is among our cast tonight." he said. My heart skipped a beat.

"I've heard from multiple people about how much they've loved working with him. And hiring him has to be one of the best choices I've ever made. So… will everyone please welcome Donatello Hamato back to the front of the stage?"

More applause. I found myself walking to the front, almost in a trance. Taking the microphone, I smiled. "Um… hi." I said. Laughter.

"Well… oh gosh, where do I begin? There's so many people I have to thank, because without them, I wouldn't be here. I would be back in my own home, still keeping this all a secret desire of mine. A guilty pleasure."

 _Breathe…_

"I first saw the show CATS on video at my own home when I was only five years old…"

And just like that, I was off on a slightly altered version of my story. Luckily, they bought it. They gasped when I revealed things like how I was self-taught, and how long I've kept it a secret, and even when I revealed that a few of them were less-than supportive. The rest of the time, dead silence. They listened to how hard I trained (and strained) myself to perfect everything. A few times, I glanced up to the balcony to see my family's faces. No frowns. No smiles. Their faces were expressionless as they listened to me.

The audience smiled as I told them how supportive a few members of my family were, and the rest of the cast, all whom I listed that were on my side beaming as I went through the story.

"But there is one person out of all of them that I want to thank the most." I said. "She was the one who found out about my secret. She was the one who persuaded me to do this. When it felt as if my world at home had come crashing down, she let me stay with her until I was ready. Honestly, at any time that I felt as if I just didn't belong, she took me into her arms and made me feel special again. We'd bend over backwards for each other, and she holds a very special place in my heart. And… I have a gift for her. The best one I could ever give."

When I turned, Jared was there, holding the small object from before.

A tiny box.

Several audience members realized what I was doing, and a few of them shrieked. "April O'Neil, can you please come on stage?" I asked.

My heart was pounding when she reached the stairs leading to the stage. She was sobbing, realizing as well what I had in mind, and Anita had to help her up to the center. When she reached me, we ended up in a long, passionate kiss. I finally had to break it as I bent down on one knee, and opened the tiny box Jared had handed me, to reveal a ring.

"April…" I could barely even get the words out in my head, so all I said quietly was, "Please?..."

When she nodded, I felt as if all of my dreams came true.

 _(The next morning…)  
_ As April and I looked silently at the ring on her finger, our minds wandered.

Despite what I said last night about feeling like all my dreams came true, last night still felt like a dream itself. After the show, me and the rest of the cast and crew decked ourselves in tuxes and fancy dresses, walked down the small red carpet outside, clambered onto a bus that took us down a couple dozen streets, and we arrived at the opening night party that had been set up. April was there too, and many people offered up their congratulations. It was incredible. They went all out, and April and I danced together for about two hours, drinking in every moment. Afterwards, we got tired and went back to her apartment, falling asleep shortly after.

This morning, April excitedly called her dad, who had gone off on a business trip about a week ago, and told him everything. He didn't exactly sound pleased, but I could worry about that later. Right now, we were just determined to spend every blissful moment of peace together before I had to face my family again. I didn't even see them after everything last night. So I don't know what's going to happen.

 _Knock knock!_

Speaking of which…

It's time. I'm nervous. I glance to my right at April. "You've got this." she whispered. "I'm right here with you. Remember that." She placed a small kiss on my cheek and smiled, even as I got up from the sofa and began to walk towards the door. Suddenly, I got an idea. I looked down at the watch, deciding on something for a split second, before quickly taking it off and placing it on the coffee table. My form flickered out a few times before vanishing completely, leaving me entirely as a turtle.

"There." I whispered absent-mindedly to myself. "Now I feel like myself again."

Then I walked to the door, and opened it.

"I know… we need to talk…"

 **A/N.  
OMG… I know, you guys have waited way too long, and I sincerely apologize for it. But things happen, and life got in the way, and I've just been so busy.**

 **The next chapter will be the last one. This will be the first story I've finished! I am so happy about that, because it's been getting such good feedback and I love it so much. Over 90 pages of writing have been dedicated to it, and I'm so proud of myself.**

 **Anyways, that's it for this time! Once you're done, leave a review, favorite, follow, and as always…**

 **Stay tuned! ;)**


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